Phase 3 · Complete your IPD
Mentor-supported training
The structured route for engineers whose employer is not an ICE Approved Employer.
Who this is for:Candidates at any stage ·Mentors
Mentor-supported training gives structure to your IPD when your employer does not operate the ICE Training Scheme. It is registered through IPD Online with an ICE mentor, and it completes IPD in the same way a Training Agreement does.
How it counts
Institution of Civil Engineers
- An ICE mentor-supported training completion form, downloaded from IPD Online, is accepted by ICE as formal evidence of IPD completion for a Professional Review application — alongside the Training Agreement completion form and the Career Appraisal decision letter.
- Where your lead sponsor was involved in your IPD, ICE says that could be your supervising civil engineer, delegated engineer, or IPD Online Mentor.
From Incorporated and Chartered Professional Review Guidance, Institution of Civil Engineers.
What it asks of you
More than a Training Agreement does, in one specific respect: nobody is arranging your experience for you. Under a Training Agreement the employer has formally committed to providing opportunities to meet the attributes, including by secondment. Under mentor-supported training that commitment does not exist, so identifying the gaps and going after the experience is entirely yours to do.
The discipline is otherwise the same. Record evidence against the attributes in IPD Online as work happens. Meet your mentor regularly. Keep a development action plan and a personal development record. Expect to reach the ability level across every attribute for your grade.
Because the structure around you is lighter, the gap analysis matters more here than on any other route. A trainee with an SCE gets told what is missing. On this route you have to notice.
Making the route work
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How it differs from a Training Agreement
| ICE Training Agreement | Mentor-supported training | |
|---|---|---|
| Employer | Must be an ICE Approved Employer, and formally commits to providing the opportunities. | No employer commitment. Your employer may not be involved at all. |
| Who arranges your experience | The SCE, who is expected to manage conflicts between the employer's needs and yours. | You. Nobody else is accountable for whether you reach the attributes. |
| Support | An SCE, possibly a DE, and your Membership Recruitment Team. | An ICE mentor, and your Membership Recruitment Team. |
| Recording | IPD Online. | IPD Online. |
| Completion evidence | Training Agreement completion form, registered by ICE. | Mentor-supported training completion form, downloaded from IPD Online. |
| The attributes | Identical. | Identical. |
The standard does not change with the route. What changes is who is responsible for making sure you meet it.
Questions to ask yourself
Who is going to tell me what I am missing?
On a Training Agreement, the annual appraisal does it. Here, nobody will unless you ask — which is why the gap analysis matters more on this route.
Does my mentor know the current standard?
They need to understand the attributes at the grade you are aiming for, and the current Professional Review requirements.
Have I asked my employer for specific experience, by name?
Your employer has made no commitment to your development. A specific, named request is far more likely to be met than a general one.
Related pages and tools
- IPDWhat IPD is, the three ways of completing it, and why completing it is not the same as being ready for review.
- Career AppraisalHow experienced engineers complete IPD from work already done: what it is, what it asks for, and what the outcomes mean.
- Gap analysisFind the areas where your evidence is thin, and turn each one into a development action you can actually ask for.
- MentorsHow to be useful to a candidate: what to look at, what to say, and where your role stops.
- IPD OnlineThe two ICE systems behind the Training Scheme, who can see what in each, and how to use them without creating work later.