FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer

FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, decided in early-2014 to launch a pilot programme to establish the FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer (FCCE) certification in China. The certification required prequisites such as an engineering-related degree, passing a two-day assessment examination and an interview.

Training courses covering the FIDIC body of knowledge that would be assessed were offered, starting on 7 November 2014. A series of two-day courses over 15 days covering FIDIC contracts and business practice were given by FIDIC International Accredited Trainers (IATs) in English, with Chinese trainers assisting as part of a mentoring process for national accreditation as trainers. A second cycle of courses started in 2016 and a third cycle started in August 2017 and ended in July 2018, with the organisation of the third assessment exam in mid-2019 once a FIDIC representative office had been established in China.. 

The first series of training courses in the third cycle took place in Hangzhou starting on 19 March 2018 and lasted for the usual three weeks with the regular set of FIDIC International Accredited Trainers giving courses alongside CNAEC FCCE Accredited Trainers. The FIDIC IATs where Zoltan Záhonyi (Hungary), Peter Boswell (Switzerland), Steve Jenkins (New Zealand), John Ritchie (Canada), Hak Bong Hyun (Korea), and Ike van der Putte (The Netherlands). During the sessions there was a special seminar to introduce Urban Sustainability Management and FIDIC's activities in the area (see USMS.online).

The second training session of the third cycle started on 2 July 2018 in Guangzhou, China. This was the 10th training session, and the CNAEC FCCE Accredited Trainers were  Dr. Ma Yinghua, Qi Guangfeng, Dr. Hu Zhangxi, and Tian Ye in addition to the IATs.

Peter Boswell gave the Envonmental Management and Quality Management modules assisted by other FIDIC International Accredited trainers and Mandarin-speaking trainers who had been assessed as trainers for the China FCCE training programme.

Trainers selected by the FIDIC Member Association CNAEC were accredited by the FIDIC IATs during the training sessions and some 12 CNAEC trainers have been accredited as trainers for the China FCCE training programme.

A first group of FCCE trainers was preassessed by Peter Boswell in 2011. A second group (seen in the photo with successful candidates from the first group), was preassessed together with Steve Jenkins, a FIDIC accredited risk management trainer, in June 2014.

Under regulations covering certification, the training courses cannot be offered by the FIDIC China Member Association CNAEC that partners with FIDIC in organising the Board responsible for the FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer certification. Attendance in the courses was therefore not a requisite for the certification's Assessment Exam, the first of which is took place in June 2016, with the second in July 2017 and a third in July 2018.

Three series of training courses took place in 2015. The first Assessment Exam that took place in June 2016 involved over 500 candidates who are seeking to obtain the title FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer. A similar number of candidates participated in the second assessment exam in July 2017 following the second round of the 15-day training courses that were held over several months in three cities.

The training courses themselves were organised by BOYA which is the organisation belonging to Peking University charged with organising training in a broad range of fields.

Peter Boswell was charged by the FCCE Board to coordinate the preparation of the question sets for all the FCCE assessment examinations.

Under a new law, organisations such as FIDIC organising activities in China must establish themselves as a legally independant organisation. Up to about 2018, all FIDIC activities in China had been organised by CNAEC, the FIDIC Member Association for China. The FIDIC Board agreed that  a "FIDIC China" representative office would be established. Its activities would include organisation of the FCCE pilot programme and of training courses based on the FIDIC training manuals.

It is also envisaged that the names and contact details of FCCE certified consulting engineers will be listed on the FIDIC website after the verification of credentials and successful completion of the two-day FCCE assessment exam. Currently, the FIDIC website provides a summary of the programme.

One of the reasons for establishing the FCCE certification is so that tenders award extra points for experienced consulting engineers familiar with and trained in international best practice. A World Bank funded project in Liaoning Province, China, announced in 2019 for example, that extra points would be awarded for FCCE certified engineers.

It has been announced that the current FCCE pilot programme, which is a pilot programme, ceased at the end of 2019 pending the full organisation of a FIDIC representive office in China that is now required by law for international organisations working in China. FIDIC will also be reviewing the programme as part of an overall review of its certification and accreditation activities and the creation of credentialling and training organisations.

The 3rd, and last, Assessment Exam for the current pilot programme took place at the end of November 2019.  Some 500 candiates were assessed. An award ceremony for successful candidates is planned for early-2022. In the meantime, the FCCE Board agreed at its September 2019 meeting that FCCE accredited trainers would qualify as FIDIC National Accredited Trainers, subject to a review.

Updated July 2020