Title:
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The chartered engineer : a study of the recruitment, qualification, conditions of employment, and professional associations of chartered civil, electrical and mechanical engineers in Great Britain.
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This thesis is concerned with the rise, development and present
position of a particular professional group in Great Britain: the
chartered engineers. The study is divided into four parts.
Part one is an attempt to set up a framework within which
moat professions can be studied. and provides the tools of analysis
for the present study.
The second. part briefly traces the history of the occupation
from its earliest beginnings and contrasts the origins of the
professional engineers in France and Great Britain. Of particular
interest in this section is the emphasis placed by the nineteenth
century British engineers on the 'practical' aspects of their
occupation and their continued, neglect and rejection of its
'scientific' side. It was during the same century that the three
major professional Institutions in engineering came into being and
provide& a base for the future development of the profession.
Part three is concerned with the education, training,
recruitment and careers of a sample of chartered engineers who
entered the profession in the present century. The educational
and training routes leading to election and corporate membership
in the professional Institutions are traced out and, the various
factors which appear to determine the choice of a route by the
chartered engineers are examined. The social and geographic origins,
the family traditions, and the educational and training background of
the sample are analysed. The effect of these
factors upon the pattern of recruitment to the profession and
upon the subsequent careers of the chartered. engineers are
described.
In the final part the study is summarized and the possible
effects, upon the structure of the profession, of recent changes
in the provisions for professional training and education are
discussed
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