INNOVATION January-February 2015

From the list below, please rate the importance of each of APEGBC’s current and potential responsibilities

Develop guidelines and standards of practice for members

83%

60%

Investigate complaints regarding member’s practice and to discipline members if appropriate

59%

82%

Regulate rms o ering professional engineer and geoscientist services to the public to ensure they have quali ed professionals and standards for quality assurance Assess quali cations of applicants to determine if they should be issued a license to practice

81%

61%

81%

60%

Audit the practice of individual members to assess compliance with rules and standards

55%

78%

Very important

Somewhat important

engineers do as a part of their job focused primarily on design, while those about geoscientists tended to focus on the study of the earth, land use and stability. Aptitude for Math, Lack of Career Information Still Present Barriers to Teens Survey respondents were asked to identify what they felt were the barriers to teens in pursuing studies leading to a career in engineer- ing. Generally, findings were consistent with the 2008 and 2011 waves of the survey. For engineering, the requirement of a high aptitude of math was cited by 71% of respondents as the main barrier to pursuing the profession. Respondents also identified high tuition costs (64%) and the belief that the profession is too academically challenging (63%) as barriers for teens. When it came to geoscience, a lack of information sources about career options within the profession (67%) was cited, and respondents also agreed that a lack of awareness of geo- science professions and career options within them (62% respectively) posed barriers. APEGBC Aligned With Public on Regulatory Responsibilities Awareness of APEGBC has increased by six percent since it was last measured. Asked if they had heard of the “Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia,” 21% of respondents said that they had. Up by three percent since 2011, 74% of respondents also stated that they agreed that engineers and geoscientists should be regulated and governed to ensure that they met set standards. The public’s perceptions of APEGBC’s regulatory responsi- bilities remained very consistent with previous waves of research. Expectations regarding APEGBC’s public interest role aligned well with its regulatory activities, with between 78-83% of survey respon- dents agreeing that it was important that APEGBC: • Develop guidelines and standards of practice for members (83%); • Investigate complaints regarding members’ practice and to disci- pline members if appropriate (82%); • Assess qualifications of applicants to determine if they should be issued a license to practice (81%);

• Regulate firms offering professional engineer and geoscientist services to the public to ensure they have qualified professionals and standards for quality assurance (81%); • Audit the practice of individual members to assess compliance with rules and standards (78%). Support was also high for APEGBC promoting engineering and geoscience as a career choice (72%) and promoting the role of the engineering and geoscience professions (71%). Just over two-thirds of those surveyed agreed that “continuing education programs for engineers and geoscientists ensure they re- main competent and current in their chosen field of practice” (67%), additionally, 77% agreed that it was important that APEGBC require members to keep up-to-date through a mandatory continuing educa- tion program. Consistent with 2011, respondents said that the most important information they felt clients should have access to when hiring an engineer or a geoscientist was their level of education, followed by their practice audit status, ranking them above information about their disciplinary history as well as their compliance with mandatory professional development requirements. Public Wants Safety, Integrity from Regulatory Organizations To provide more data to inform the branding exercise APEGBC is currently undertaking, new questions on brand perception were added to the survey this year. From a list of 17 organizational char- acteristics, those surveyed ranked safety, integrity, trustworthiness and accuracy as the characteristics they most wanted to see from an organization that serves the public interest. When asked which of these 17 characteristics they felt APEGBC possessed, respondents ranked “supports its members,” “ensures pub- lic safety,” integrity, and accuracy the highest. Timeliness, friendliness and transparency were ranked the lowest of the characteristics. Queried about the name “Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC,” 86% agreed that this name represented members, and seven in 10 respondents agreed that the organization sounded trustworthy .

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J AN UA R Y/ F E B R UA R Y 2 015

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