Engineering Competence Reference Standards, ECRS
Note that the ECRS are available on this website as pdf files, which will require the use of Adobe Reader for access. If you do not have Adobe Reader you can download the current version free of charge from www.adobe.com
There are three pdf files containing
If you are not familiar with using pdf files, please refer to our short guide.
Introduction
The Engineering Competence Reference Standards, ECRS, were published by OSCEng in March 2006. They are the result of a review of two previous separate sets of standards: the Engineering Competence Standards, designed primarily for engineering competencies at Levels 1, 2 and 3 in the UK National Framework; and the Higher Level Standards, HLS, covering competencies at Levels 4 and 5.
The ECRS suite contains 128 generic Units of Competence within the following subject areas:
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Design and development
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Technical information
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Planning
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Preparation techniques and procedures
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Processing and production
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Installation and dismantling
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Maintenance and repair
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Quality and compliance
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Engineering support services
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Risk management
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Personal development
As generic standards, the ECRS Units avoid the use of sector- or discipline-specific terminology. Each Unit consists of three components:
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the performance statements, which describe what must be done to provide evidence of competence
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the scope indicators, which provide guidance on the breadth of applications for the Unit
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the knowledge statements, which describe in generic terms the areas of required knowledge and understanding specific to each Unit
National Occupational Standards and vocational qualifications
Recognising that a principal use of the ECRS Units will be in the development of National Occupational Standards and vocational qualifications for inclusion in the National Frameworks, OSCEng has produced detailed guidance on the implementation policy to be followed for such applications.
Where the ECRS are used to develop National Occupational Standards, a key requirement of the implementation policy is that the ECRS performance statements remain unchanged – in contrast to the Scope and Knowledge statements, to which suitable, context-specific detail must be added. This represents an explicit recognition, by all end-users developing National Occupational Standards, that the description of what must be done by an individual to provide evidence of competence is essentially the same, irrespective of the sector in which the individual might be employed. As a result, mobility and flexibility in the workforce, at all levels, is both encouraged and enhanced.
A peer review group, the Engineering Standards Implementation Group (ESIG), provides guidance on the use of the ECRS Units in developing context-specific National Occupational Standards and other applications – for instance for internal use by employers. ESIG is chaired by OSCEng and is open to any organisation intending to use the OSCEng generic standards. Full details can be obtained from OSCEng.
Other uses of the ECRS
Although the development of National Occupational Standards and vocational qualifications is an important use of the OSCEng generic standards, the ECRS have many other applications. For example:
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Skills audits and identification of skills needs: personal and corporate
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Recruitment and personnel selection
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Job design and evaluation
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Training and development programmes
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Careers guidance and continuing professional development, CPD
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Requirements for professional registration
Publication
The Engineering Competence Reference Standards are available in printed and electronic format. They are included here as pdf files: one containing the Introductory Text, with full details of the Implementation Policy; and one for the Units, with a glossary of terms used and an audit trail to the previous ECS and HLS Units. The documents are also available, on request, in Word format.
Bulletins
From time to time OSCEng publishes Service Bulletins to advise users of the ECRS of any changes to the content of the Standards or to give guidance on their use. The Bulletins are published on this website: click here to access them.
Key and Core Skills Signposting
OSCEng has produced a generic Key and Core Skills Signposting, based on an original model developed by SEMTA, the Sector Skills Council in the UK for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies. The signposting shows how each of the new ECRS Units meets, or otherwise, the Key and Core Skills specified by the principal educational Regulatory Authorities in the UK (QCA and SQA).
The Key and Core Skills Signposting is published as a separate document to the ECRS. It is included here as a pdf file: a Word version is also available, from OSCEng.
Ordering copies of ECRS (print and CD-ROM versions)
Please click here to order copies of the ECRS book or CD-ROM.