CPD requirements

Continuing professional development or CPD, is imperative to ensuring your knowledge and technical skills as an engineer are optimised and up-to-date.

Keeping up with your CPD requirements also ensures your Engineers Australia Chartered or NER credentials stay valid.

What is CPD?

CPD is any sort of training or learning that helps to expand your knowledge, maintain your technical skills and progress your engineering career. Good CPD should help you to:

• maintain your technical competence
• retain and enhance your workplace effectiveness
• learn good leadership skills and how to mentor others
• successfully deal with career challenges
• better serve the community.

CPD requirements for Chartered and NER

If you’re working towards Chartered or NER credentials, then CPD is very important. You must demonstrate how you've continued to learn and maintain your competencies. 

To keep these credentials, you need to complete at least 150 hours of CPD every three years.

If you work in one area of practice, breakdown of the specific hour requirement is as follows:

• 50 hours must relate to your area of engineering practice
• 10 hours must relate to risk management
• 15 hours must relate to business and management skills
• the remainder must cover a range of activities relevant to your engineering career.

More than one area of practice

If you work in more than one area of practice or area of engineering then you must record at least 50 hours for each area across the three-year period. If technical CPD activities overlap, then the same hours can be used for each area of practice.

For example, if you are Chartered or Registered for both civil and structural areas of practice or areas of engineering, the hour requirement would be broken down as follows:

• 50 hours to civil area of practice
• 50 hours to structural area of practice
• 10 hours for risk management
• 15 hours for business and management skills
• 40 hours for any other CPD activities.

If you’re an engineering academic or teacher, your 150 hours must include at least 40 hours of industry involvement in each three-year period.

These are the minimum requirements to keep your credentials. Of course the more CPD you do, the more you build a competitive knowledge base and skill set to benefit your career.

Career break provisions

Flexibility in the hour requirement is available if you’ve had a career break of at least six months and less than five years, for one of the following reasons:

• serious illness
• parental leave
• extended travel
• caring for family members
• unemployment
• elite sporting or cultural pursuits
• other career breaks, assessed on a case-by-case basis.

If you’ve had a career break or need to take one, you can complete your 150 hours over a five-year period instead.

Types of CPD

CPD can be taken in many ways including formal, structured learning as well as private study. Engineers Australia has conditions around the types of CPD you complete towards your continued membership. CPD can be:

• any tertiary course taken as an individual course or for a formal post-graduate award
• short courses, webinars, workshops, seminars, discussion groups and conferences
• workplace learning activities that extend competence in your area of professional practice
• private study that extends your knowledge and skills
• service to the engineering profession
• preparation and presentation of materials for courses and conferences
• tertiary teaching or academic research 
• other structured activities that meet the objectives of the CPD policy.

Engineers Australia CPD

As Australia’s national body for engineers, Engineers Australia has a comprehensive program of CPD for our members. Through your membership you can access:

• Engineers Australia’s exclusive tertiary and short courses
• a suite of online resources including on-demand training, webinars and collaboration tools
• a comprehensive events calendar with access to the latest engineering seminars, conferences and technical presentations
• an online library stocked with engineering resources from around the world, including policy publications, papers, magazines and technical journals
• professional networking groups that allow you to connect with peers locally and nationally
• volunteer opportunities with us.

Login to your portal account to record your CPD. Go to the MyEA tile or tab and select Record CPD.

If you have any questions about CPD or membership, contact us.