Phase 2 · Settle your academic base
Recognition of existing qualifications
If you are already registered or professionally qualified elsewhere, you may join the process at a different point.
Who this is for:Candidates at any stage
Existing registration or professional qualification elsewhere can change what IStructE asks of you. What applies depends entirely on where you are registered, and only the Institution can tell you.
Two different things, routinely confused
Recognition of your academic base. Your qualification, or an existing registration, may satisfy the academic requirement without a separate assessment. You would still complete IPD and sit the Professional Review.
A recognition route into membership. Under a specific agreement, an existing professional qualification may reduce or replace part of the review process itself.
These are not the same, and the second is much narrower than candidates hope. Ask which — if either — applies to you before planning around it.
What to ask about
- Existing Engineering Council registration as CEng or IEng through another licensed institution.
- Mutual recognition agreements the Institution is party to.
- International professional qualifications in structural engineering.
- Whether any direct examination route currently applies to your situation.
- Whether an academic assessment is needed in addition, or instead.
What to send when you write to IStructE
6 items · saved in this browser only
Questions to ask yourself
Am I asking about my academic base, or about the review process?
They are different questions, often handled by different people, and asking the wrong one costs weeks.
Is my existing registration current?
Recognition arrangements generally turn on current registration. A lapsed one is a different conversation.
Related pages and tools
- Academic requirementsWhat the academic requirement is for, the four ways of satisfying it, and why this is the part to settle before anything else.
- Academic assessmentHow an unaccredited or overseas qualification is assessed individually, and what to prepare.
- Route finderPrompts that turn your situation into the questions you should be asking IStructE — not an eligibility decision.
- Chartered MemberWhat Chartered Membership requires, what the ten Core Objectives are assessed at, and what the title actually depends on.