Professional qualifications in the United Kingdom are titles or awards granted by
professional bodies
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...
.
Many British professional qualifications were subject to the
European directives on professional qualifications[ and are (following ]Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...
) covered by amended versions of those regulations as enacted in British law. Most, but not all, professional qualifications are ' Chartered' qualifications, and follow on from having been admitted to a degree (or having an equivalent qualification). The term "professional qualification" can also be used to refer to higher-level vocational qualifications in "professional" roles.
Regulation and levels
There are four forms of regulated profession in the UK, with respect to the European directives on professional qualifications: professions regulated by law or public authority; professions regulated by professional bodies incorporated by royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...
; professions regulated under Regulation 35; and the seven sectoral professions with harmonised training requirements across the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
. The European directives are given force of law in the UK via regulations issued by the Secretary of State under the European Communities Act 1972; the most recent regulations are ''The European Union (Recognition of Professional Qualifications) Regulations 2015''.
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation is an endowed grant-making trust, based in London, founded by David Sainsbury in 1967. The organisation is one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts, set up to provide funding for charitable causes. Although t ...
has been supporting the development of professional qualifications for technicians, such as the Science Council's Registered Science Technician (RSciTech
Registered Science Technician (RSciTech) is a professional qualification for science technicians that was introduced in 2011 alongside Registered Scientist as an extension to the UK Science Council's existing professional register for Chartered S ...
), the Engineering Council
The Engineering Council (formerly Engineering Council UK; colloquially known as EngC) is the UK's regulatory authority for registration of Chartered and Incorporated engineers and engineering technician, holding a register of these and providin ...
's Engineering Technician ( EngTech) and ICT Technician (ICTTech), and the British Computer Society's Registered IT Technician (RITTech).A Level
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...
s, BTEC nationals, or similar awards at levels 3–4 on the Qualifications and Credit Framework
The Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) was the national credit transfer system for education qualification in England, Northern Ireland and Wales until October 2015.. The replacement was the Regulated Qualification Framework.
The QCF rep ...
(now replaced by the Regulated Qualifications Framework); intermediate qualifications such as Incorporated Engineer ( IEng) and Registered Scientist ( RSci) requiring Higher Apprenticeships, Higher National Diploma
Higher National Diploma (HND), part of the Higher Nationals suite of qualifications, is an academic higher education qualification in the United Kingdom and various other countries. They were first introduced in England and Wales in 1920 alongsi ...
s, foundation degrees, bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
s, or similar awards at levels 5–6; and chartered statuses such as CEng, CSci, CPhys, CChem, etc. that require master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. s or similar qualifications at level 7 or above.
The European directives specify five levels of professional qualification in the ''general system'', labelled a to e and approximately defined by their required academic training as:
On this scale, ICTTech, EngTech and other technician qualifications equate to level c, IEng equates to level d, and CEng, CSci, etc. elite to level e. Although chartered statuses in science and engineering are placed at level e, in some fields chartered statuses, while remaining terminal professional qualifications in that field, are at level d (e.g. CMgr).
Professional qualifications requiring an attestation of competence
These professions are government regulated and involve reserved activities rather than a reserved title. Some of these are devolved matters that are not uniformly regulated across the UK. In most cases, the competent authority for these is a government department or agency.
Professional qualifications requiring education at secondary level
These professional qualifications are mostly, as in the previous category, government regulated with reserved activities, although some are through licensing of use of a reserved title.
Professions with reserved activities:
Professions with protected titles under a licensing system:
Professional qualifications requiring education for at least one year at post-secondary level
These qualifications now begin to include those which have protected titles without reserve of activities, normally granted by professional bodies under their royal charter rather than by statutory or regulatory bodies. Titles granted by professional bodies are often accompanied by postnominal letters
Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...
.
Regulated by law or public authority
Professions with reserved activities or protected functions:
Professions with protected titles under a licensing system:
Professions with protected titles without reserve of activities:
Regulated by professional bodies under royal charter
Professions with protected titles without reserve of activities:
Professional qualifications requiring bachelor's degree level education
Many of these are protected titles without reserve of activities, regulated by professional bodies acting under a royal charter. This includes a large number of chartered statuses, which are terminal professional qualifications in that field.
Regulated by law or public authority
Professions with reserved activities:
Professions with reserved activities and protected titles:
Professions with protected titles under a licensing system:
Professions with protected titles without reserve of activities:
Regulated by professional bodies under royal charter
Professions with reserved activities and protected titles:
Professions with protected titles without reserve of activities:
Professional qualifications requiring master's degree level education
Regulated by law or public authority
Professions with reserved activities and protected titles:
Professions with protected titles without reserve of activities:
Regulated by professional bodies under royal charter
Professions with reserved activities:
Professions with protected titles without reserve of activities:
Professional qualifications for which the level of education is not applicable
Regulated by law or public authority
Professions with reserved activities:
Regulated by professional bodies under royal charter
Professions with reserved activities:
Professions with protected titles without reserve of activities:
Professional qualifications in sectoral professions
The "sectoral professions" are ones which are regulated in every EU country and where training and education requirements have been harmonised. There is therefore no explicit training level associated with the qualifications in the regulations as the educational requirements do not vary between countries and do not need to be compared. All of these are regulated by law or public authority, not by professional bodies.
Professional qualifications not included in the European directives
Not all chartered titles are included in the European directives on professional qualifications, but all UK chartered titles, and some lower-level titles, are issued by a professional body under the authority of a royal charter and are thus recognised professional qualifications (these should not be confused with membership levels within an organisation). These qualifications are sometimes associated with professions that are included in the directives as regulated under law or by public authority (e.g. architecture or psychology).
Non-chartered titles:
Chartered titles:
References
{{Reflist
Economy of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom-related lists
Professional titles and certifications