Ordem dos Engenheiros
Encyclopedia
The Ordem dos Engenheiros (OE, Order of Engineers) is the regulatory and licensing body for the engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 profession in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. It is headquartered in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, and has several regional branches in other Portuguese cities.

It is illegal to provide engineering services or sign engineering projects in Portugal without being a member of the Order. However, many professionals in engineering (such as technical engineers, short-cycle degree engineers or engineers with unaccredited courses) are allowed to work in the field since that they do not provide engineering services or sign engineering projects, and officially, they can not use the title "engineer". The Ordem dos Engenheiros is the entity responsible for the accreditation of engineers and engineering courses in Portugal. The accreditation process for engineering courses exemptes candidates, possessing an accredited course degree, of such examination. According to the highest responsible of OE (who has the title of bastonário), candidate examination from unaccredited courses has a success rate ranging from 50% to 30%, depending on the engineering field. Over three hundred engineering degrees are awarded in Portugal by public university, public polytechnic, and private institutions, however, accredited courses are about one hundred.

Accreditation

A full chartered engineer (Engenheiro) in Portugal used to have a compulsory five-year course known as licenciatura (licentiate
Licentiate
Licentiate is the title of a person who holds an academic degree called a licence. The term may derive from the Latin licentia docendi, meaning permission to teach. The term may also derive from the Latin licentia ad practicandum, which signified someone who held a certificate of competence to...

) which was granted exclusively by universities. Only engineers having the licenciatura diploma, graduated at the universities, were capacitated to develop any kind of project in engineering and were universally recognized by the Engineers Association of Portugal (Ordem dos Engenheiros). The polytechnic institutions of engineering, born after 1974, used to award the professional title of Engenheiro Técnico (Technical Engineer), a title conferred after a three years course; the degree was known as bacharelato. Polytechnic institutions conferred 3-years bacharelato degrees in several technical engineering specializations, until the late 1990s. At this time new legal decrees were adopted by Portuguese State (Administrative Rule 413A/98 of 17 July 1998), and it started to award 3 + 2 licenciaturas bietápicas (bacharelato plus one or two extra years, conferring the licenciatura degree - a degree that had been awarded exclusively by the universities). In the mid-2000s those institutions adopted new more selective admission rules which were imposed to every Portuguese higher education institution by the State, excluding for the first time in their history the applicants with negative (less than 95/200) admission marks (in Portugal admission marks to higher education institutions are based on a combination of high school marks, and results of the entrance exams, and competition is based in a numerus clausus
Numerus clausus
Numerus clausus is one of many methods used to limit the number of students who may study at a university. In many cases, the goal of the numerus clausus is simply to limit the number of students to the maximum feasible in some particularly sought-after areas of studies.However, in some cases,...

system). However, in many cases, polytechnic courses from several institutions across the country, started to require admission entrance exams in fields not directly related with the course (for instance, an electrical engineering or computer engineering course allows a biology entrance exam instead of mathematics and/or physics, unlike what is seen in most universities for the same engineering fields). This is the main reason many engineering courses awarded by several Portuguese polytechnic institutions and a few universities, are not currently accredited by Ordem dos Engenheiros. This is not exclusive of polytechnic engineerings since that in other polytechnic fields, like in polytechnic accountancy and management institutes or schools, history, geography, or even Portuguese language entrance exams are allowed instead of mathematics and economics, unlike what is allowed for the university courses in similar fields, although some departments of certain university institutions are using the same criteria to fight the increasing number of places left vacant every year.

Today, after many reforms and changes in higher education occurred since 1998 to the 2000s, the formal differences between polytechnic
Polytechnic (Portugal)
A polytechnic is a higher education educational institution in Portugal created in the 1980s. After 1998 they were upgraded to institutions which are allowed to confer licenciatura degrees. Before then, they only awarded short-cycle degrees which were known as bacharelatos and didn't provide...

 and university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 licenciatura degrees in engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 are in general null, and due to the Bologna process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...

 both graduates should be recognized equally all across Europe. However, there are many engineering courses whose degrees are still not recognized by the Ordem dos Engenheiros (the highest Portuguese authority in accreditation of professional engineers), especially engineering courses conferred by several polytechnical institutes and many private institutions. Among the oldest recognized and most extensively accredited engineering courses in Portugal, are those engineering degrees awarded by the state-run universities. After the large 1998 - 2000s reforms and upgrades, some polytechnic engineering licenciatura degrees started to be offered by the largest state-run polytechnic institutes, have been accredited in the same way with official recognition by Ordem dos Engenheiros.

After the implementation of the Bologna process, the engineering courses should be accredited only after the student is awarded with the second study cycle diploma which confers the masters' degree (mestrado), and the engineering first cycle which confers the licenciatura is not sufficient to be an accredited full chartered engineer in Portugal or in Europe.

List of accredited courses

  • Engineering courses accredited by the Ordem dos Engenheiros (as of 2006):
    • University of the Azores
      University of the Azores
      The University of the Azores , or commonly abbreviated as UAç, is the only public university in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, It was founded on January 9, 1976, two years after the Carnation Revolution that ended several decades of dictatorship in Portugal, but before the Portuguese Third...

      • zootechnical engineering
    • University of the Algarve
      University of the Algarve
      The University of the Algarve is a Portuguese public university with administrative and financial autonomy. Its two campuses and the central administration are located in Faro, the capital city of the Algarve region. It has about 9,000 students.- History and organisation :It was founded at the end...

      • agronomical engineering
      • environmental engineering
      • biotechnological engineering
    • University of Aveiro
      • environmental engineering
      • ceramics and glass engineering
      • electronics and telecommunications engineering
      • geological engineering
      • materials engineering
      • mechanical engineering
      • chemical engineering
      • computer and telematics engineering
      • industrial management engineering
    • University of Beira Interior
      University of Beira Interior
      The University of Beira Interior is a public university located in the city of Covilhã, Portugal...

      • aeronautical engineering
      • civil engineering
      • electromechanical engineering
      • textile engineering
    • Portuguese Catholic University (Escola Superior de Biotecnologia - Porto)
      • food engineering
      • environmental engineering
    • Portuguese Catholic University (Pólo da Figueira da Foz)
      • industrial engineering
    • University of Coimbra (Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia)
      • civil engineering
      • electronic and computer engineering
      • geographical engineering
      • informatics engineering
      • materials engineering
      • mechanical engineering
      • mining engineering
      • chemical engineering
    • University of Évora
      University of Évora
      The University of Évora is a public university in Évora, Portugal.-History:The University of Évora, the second oldest in Portugal, was founded in the 16th century by Cardinal Infante Dom Henrique , and by the Pope Paul IV, and it was delivered to the Society of Jesus.The Jesuit college...

      • biophysical engineering
      • geological engineering
      • informatics engineering
      • hydrological resources engineering
    • University of Lisbon (Faculdade de Ciências)
      • Geographical engineering
      • Computer Engineering
    • Lusíada University
      Lusíada University
      The Lusíada University is a Portuguese private university headquartered in Lisbon. The university's motto is sol lucet omnibus .-History:...

       (V. N. de Famalicão)
      • industrial management and engineering
    • Minho University
      • biological engineering
      • civil engineering
      • electrónica industrial and computers engineering
      • industrial management and engineering
      • materials engineering
      • mechanical engineering
      • polymer engineering
      • systems and informatics engineering
      • textile engineering
    • New University of Lisbon
      New University of Lisbon
      Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, , also known as NOVA ) was established in 1973 and is the youngest of the three public universities of Lisbon, in Portugal....

       (Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia)
      • mechanical engineering
      • environmental engineering
      • civil engineering
      • electronic and computer engineering
      • geological engineering
      • industrial management and engineering
      • informatics engineering
      • materials engineering
      • chemical engineering
    • University of Porto
      University of Porto
      The University of Porto is a Portuguese public university located in Porto, and founded 22 March 1911. It is the largest Portuguese university by number of enrolled students and has one of the most noted research outputs in Portugal...

       (Faculdade de Ciências)
      • geographical engineering
    • University of Porto
      University of Porto
      The University of Porto is a Portuguese public university located in Porto, and founded 22 March 1911. It is the largest Portuguese university by number of enrolled students and has one of the most noted research outputs in Portugal...

       (Faculdade de Engenharia)
      • civil engineering
      • electronic and computer engineering
      • informatics and computing engineering
      • mechanical engineering
      • metallurgy and materiais engineering
      • mining engineering
      • chemical engineering
    • Technical University of Lisbon
      Technical University of Lisbon
      The Technical University of Lisbon is a Portuguese public university. It was created in 1930 in Lisbon, as a confederation of older schools, and comprises, nowadays, the faculties and institutes of veterinary medicine; agricultural sciences; economics and business administration; engineering,...

       (Instituto Superior de Agronomia)
      • agronomical engineering
      • food engineering
      • forestry engineering
      • forestry and natural resources engineering
    • Technical University of Lisbon
      Technical University of Lisbon
      The Technical University of Lisbon is a Portuguese public university. It was created in 1930 in Lisbon, as a confederation of older schools, and comprises, nowadays, the faculties and institutes of veterinary medicine; agricultural sciences; economics and business administration; engineering,...

       (Instituto Superior Técnico
      Instituto Superior Técnico
      Instituto Superior Técnico is a reputed school of engineering, part of Universidade Técnica de Lisboa . IST is the largest and the most prestigious school of engineering in Portugal...

      )
      • aerospace engineering
      • environmental engineering
      • naval architecture and engineering
      • biological engineering
      • civil engineering
      • electronic and computer engineerings
      • industrial management and engineering
      • informatics and computers engineering
      • materials engineering
      • mechanical engineering
      • geological and mining engineering
      • chemical engineering
      • territorial engineering
    • University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro
      University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro
      The University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro is a public university located in Vila Real, Portugal. It was created in 1986 from the structure of the former Instituto Politécnico de Vila Real, a polytechnic institution dating from 1974. Today UTAD has campuses in Chaves and Miranda do Douro...

      • agro engineering
      • environment and natural resources engineering
      • civil engineering
      • electronics engineering
      • forestry engineering
      • mechanical engineering
      • zootechnical engineering
    • Portuguese Air Force Academy
      Portuguese Air Force Academy
      The Air Force Academy is a Portuguese military higher education institution whose aim is to provide all its students with the training and the experience that will enable them to graduate having gained the knowledge and the character qualities that are essential for leadership, and the motivation...

      • aerodrome engineering
      • aeronautics engineering
      • electronics engineering
    • Portuguese Military Academy
      Portuguese Military Academy
      The Military Academy is a Portuguese military establishment, which has the ability to confer educational qualifications equivalent to a university...

      • electronics engineering - transmissions and material
      • military mechanical engineering
      • military electronics engineering
    • Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa
      Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa
      The Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa is a Portuguese higher education polytechnic institution of engineering. Headquartered in Lisbon, it belongs to the Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa.-History:...

      • civil engineering
      • electronics and telecommunications engineering
      • electronics engineering
      • informatics and computers engineering
      • mechanical engineering
      • chemical engineering
    • Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto
      Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto
      The Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto or Porto Superior Institute of Engineering is a public polytechnic higher learning and research institute of engineering, located in the city of Porto, Portugal...

      • electronics engineering - electronics and computers
      • electronics engineering - energy systems
      • chemical engineering
      • informatics engineering

See also

  • Educational accreditation‎
  • Higher education in Portugal
    Higher education in Portugal
    Higher education in Portugal is divided into two main subsystems: university and polytechnic education. It is provided in autonomous public universities, private universities, public or private university institutes, polytechnic institutions and higher education institutions of other types...

  • Ordem dos Advogados
  • Ordem dos Biólogos
    Ordem dos Biólogos
    The Ordem dos Biólogos is a professional body for biologists, primarily those working in Portugal. The Ordem dos Biólogos is headquartered in Lisbon, and has regional branches in several other cities across Portugal. It was founded in 1998 by the decree Decreto Lei número 183/98 de 1998 ...


External links

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