By: Gerard McDonald, Engineers Canada CEO
As the pandemic slowed its spread in the last year, Engineers Canada’s work ramped up. We returned to in-person meetings, including Board meetings, committee meetings, workshops, events, and more. 2022 also marked the beginning of our 2022-2024 Strategic Plan. As we enter the second year of the strategic plan in 2023, I’m looking forward to more of our work coming to fruition. Here’s a snapshot of what I anticipate most this year:
Finalizing work on our new strategic plan
Work on our next strategic plan is already underway. As the engineering environment shifts with the needs of society, our work must align. With feedback and insights from engineering regulators across Canada, our next strategic plan will highlight the top priorities of Engineers Canada over the coming years.
Launch of the marketing campaign to reinforce the trust and value of licensure
In 2022, we laid much of the groundwork for Strategic Priority 2.2: Reinforce the trust and value of licensure – A national marketing campaign that aims to showcase the diversity of the profession, the breadth of engineering in both traditional and new disciplines, and the value of engineering licensure to the public, engineering graduates, EITs, and employers. During the year, regulator staff who are part of the project advisory group, the Engineers Canada project team, and our consultant collaborated to determine a vision for the campaign, identify target audiences, messages, and conduct in-depth research with engineering students, recent graduates, and Engineers-in-Training. In 2023, we’ll see the launch of the first phase of the marketing campaign as well as it’s impact in the engineering community.
Improving accreditation
I anticipate this will be another milestone year for our accreditation portfolio. Accrediting engineering undergraduate programs in Canada is one of Engineer’s Canada’s major priorities. Over the last few years, Engineers Canada has been seeking ways to improve our accreditation program to ensure it is up-to-date with the current and future needs of our society and the engineering profession. The accreditation Strategic Priority 1.1: Investigate and validate the purpose and scope of accreditation aims to understand if there is a desire to adopt a new, national academic requirement for licensure as well as an updated purpose of accreditation. This work saw a lot of movement in 2022 including: The completion of three research reports, several workshops conducted with educators and regulators, an engaging two-day event held in Toronto with over 80 diverse participants from the engineering community, and the launch of a project website. This year, I anticipate the valuable research findings that will come from this work and look forward to the recommendations that will roll-out in 2024.
First in-person 30 by 30 Conference
In May, Engineers Canada will host its very first ever in-person 30 by 30 conference. At the height of the pandemic, we launched an annual multi-day virtual gathering for 30 by 30 Champions, engineering leaders, and engineers. The Conference has since actively engaged thousands of stakeholders in activities and research that focusses on addressing the culture of exclusion against women and underrepresented groups (i.e. Black, Indigenous, people of colour, LGBTQ2+, persons with disabilities) in the profession. I foresee another successful Conference, with even better insights and activities as we gather in-person this Spring.
