Engineer's degree
An engineer's degree is an advanced academic degree in engineering which is conferred in Europe, some countries of Asia and Latin America, North Africa and a few institutions in the United States. The degree may require a thesis but always requires a non-abstract project. The duration of study typically ranges from 4 to 5 years, depending on the country and university. Additionally, there may be further requirements for certifications or licenses to practice engineering after graduation.
North America
United States
In the United States, the engineer's degree requires a year of study beyond a master's degree or two years from a bachelor's degree and often includes a requirement for a research thesis.At the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School the thesis is required to be "more extensive and complete in problem scope and solution than a master's thesis", although "not necessarily meeting the test of original research and contribution to fundamental knowledge that is applied to PhD dissertations." At UCLA, the engineer degree is explicitly set at the level of the preliminary PhD examination, i.e. not including the contribution to fundamental knowledge.
The engineer's degree was originally a first degree at the same level as a bachelor's degree. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was empowered by its 1824 charter to award Civil Engineer and Topographical Engineer degrees alongside the Bachelor in Science, and awarded the first Civil Engineer degrees in 1835. Civil Engineer degrees were also awarded by Dartmouth College, the University of Michigan and by Yale University, while Columbia University awarded Engineer of Mines degrees from 1867. By the early 20th-century engineer's degrees were commonly at graduate level – a survey by a committee of the Association of American Universities in 1916 found that this was the case in over two-thirds of the universities surveyed. The committee recommended that engineer's degrees be reserved for study beyond master's level.
Mexico
The engineer's degree in Mexico is a five to ten-year program that takes you beyond the master's degree level. It is a terminal degree that certifies you to practice with a license. Internationally, that degree can be considered to be equivalent to a doctorate in engineering. This can be verified through reputable sources such as Collins online translation dictionary, that translates "ingeniero" to doctor for Mexico, it gives the example Ing. Quintanilla ~Dr.Quintanilla..The international Engineering alliance graduate attributes and professional competencies gives the qualifications and credentials of the professional engineer in all the signatory countries Mexico and Chile included. The Unirank system can be used to determine the level of a five-year engineering program from an accredited and reputable school. For example, the engineering program at the university of Quintana roo goes from bachelor's to doctoral level according to the degree matrix level.Latin America
In Latin America, a degree or title of "Ingeniero" is awarded after completing five years of college. This may be translated as "Engineer", however, its international academic equivalence depends on each country's educational system and can be compared to a six-year post-master's degree. Its award may imply obtaining a state licence to legally practice in the field or a professional certification outside the academic environment.Argentina, Chile, Uruguay
Chile's higher education system differs from the US model, with a six-year "Título Profesional en Ingeniería" granting the title of engineer. This professional title encompasses a bachelor's degree in science, allowing graduates to enter a master's or doctoral program. Alternatively, graduates can proceed directly to a doctorate after the six-year program. Therefore, a Chilean professional title in engineering is academically equivalent to a six-year post-master's degree.Europe
Prior to the Bologna Process, In most countries of continental Europe, universities specializing in technical fields traditionally awarded their students an engineer's degree after five years. This degree was typically the first university-awarded degree after finishing secondary education and completing it granted qualifications to further pursue a doctorate.Following German custom in higher education, the engineer's degree was called the Diplom. In addition to Germany itself, this system was common in states like Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland.
Following the introduction of the Bologna process, universities divide higher-education studies in three cycles, corresponding to a three to four-year bachelor's degree, a one to two-year master's degree and a doctoral degree. Accordingly, engineering studies are now divided in two parts: first, the bachelor's degree and the second optional part, after which either the traditional engineer's degree or a master's degree is awarded. These can often, however, still be combined into a single 'integrated' degree programme in many countries, normally lasting five or six years. But in the UK when one considers the whole formation of a fully qualified Chartered Engineer or Incorporated Engineer it is a minimum of eight years. Countries have varied in the implementation of the Bologna process, meaning the combination of first and second cycles, even when taken as a single degree, can last from four to six years, although many countries have set five years as the minimum.
Most traditional universities continue to have a primary academic degree program, for example, a five-year Civilingenjör in Sweden, that is distinct from the 3+2 scheme that awards the bachelor's and master's degrees but a student who has done both at a Swedish technical university will in most cases also fulfill the requirements for the civilingenjör degree.
In France, an important part of engineering is taught in écoles d’ingénieurs, which are part of the French grandes écoles system. Since the Bologna Process, the Diplôme d’ingénieur is officially considered to be at the level of a master's degree, equivalent to an integrated bachelor's and
master's degree.
In German, the traditional engineer's degree is called Diplom-Ingenieur. This degree is generally equivalent to a combined bachelor's and Master's degree, which is not to be confused with the old Magister degree.
Europe has the international professional engineering qualification and title of European Engineer which is obtained through peer review after seven years of education, training and professional experience.
Belarus and Ukraine
In Belarus and Ukraine, the degree is спеціаліст інженер, a first degree after five years of education.Belgium
In Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia, somebody holding an engineer's degree is an ingenieur/ingénieur. There are two types of engineers with different abbreviations:- ir. is obtained at university. It is at academic level and the highest engineer qualification. Five years study.
- ing. is also obtained at university. Four years study.
Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia (former Yugoslavia)
In Croatia, the old system included the engineer's degrees diplomirani inženjer which was awarded by university faculties and a lower ranked engineer's degree inženjer which was awarded by polytechnics, in a similar vein to the situation in the Netherlands. The old dipl.ing. degree could later be upgraded to a magistar and then a doktor. The situation was the same in other countries previously part of Yugoslavia. In Serbian, the abbreviation is dipl.inž. Serbian titles of magistar and doktor in abbreviated versions are used without full stop as a punctuation mark at the end.Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia
In the western Slavic-speaking countries, the engineer's degree is called inżynier, inžinier or inženýr and the abbreviation is inż. in Poland and Ing. in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which may be written before the person's name.In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the degree of Ing. is given for complete university studies in technical, economic or agricultural fields. In one of these cases it can be equivalent to a Master of Science in Engineering.
In Poland, the degree of inżynier is available after 3.5 or 4 years of studies after a final thesis is completed. A magister inżynier refers to a Master of Science in Engineering, after completing five years of study and a written thesis. Originally there were "inżynier" studies that lasted for four years and afterward one could obtain the "magister" title in two years of studies—the total of six years resulted in two degrees, "magister" and "inżynier". In the early 1960s a new track of studies was developed to speed up education and the "magister inżynier" five-year track was created. Whichever way one obtained the education the "magister inżynier" was the equivalent degree with "inżynier" designating the professional level and "magister" designating the academic level.
After the Bologna process the first level is "inżynier," obtainable after nominally three years of studies with the same professional privileges as before and "masters" after one or two years gives the same academic and professional designation as before. But the ultimate shortening of the period of studies resulted in some professional groups demanding that "magister inżynier" be made a basis for professional rights.