Assessment of professional competence in engineering, product design – and higher education–speculative directions for developing practice

The IED’s development of the Chartered Technical Product Design has prompted an investigation into methods and processes of assessment of professional competence. This is intended to assess competence in normal work and not using an invented assignment. The paper suggests the meanings for professional competence and assesses different assessment methods, comparing them with those currently used for engineers, designers and educators. It concludes that the current processes are generally effective, but includes suggestions to modify current processes rather than suggest a complete replacement.