Chinese Society of Engineering will boost profession

The China Association for Science and Technology will launch the Chinese Society of Engineering on Thursday to better organize engineering talents, promote engineering education and facilitate international exchanges and collaborations.

There are 76 member institutions that have joined this new organization, including 32 national-level academic societies, eight regional engineering societies, 12 universities, and 24 state-owned and private enterprises, according to information the association released on Tuesday.

As of 2014, China had over 42 million engineers, accounting for nearly half of the nation's scientific and technological workforce.

The association pointed out that the Chinese engineering community is facing many challenges, such as Chinese engineering titles being incompatible with international certifications, a lack of sustained education for engineers, unequal treatment of engineers at private companies and inadequate interest in engineering careers from young people.

Moreover, addressing many of today's global challenges, from climate change to food security, will require innovative engineering solutions. The new society will enable the Chinese engineering community to better engage with international peers and jointly contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations.

To address these issues, the Chinese Society of Engineering will carry out five primary missions. The first is to promote the scientific spirit and engineering education, thus fostering a conducive social environment for the engineering profession to thrive in China.

Second, the society will help optimize training, evaluation, and services for engineers. Third, the society will facilitate the commercializing of scientific output to support socioeconomic development.

The fourth mission is to promote international exchanges, as well as the integration of Chinese engineering standards and evaluations with those in the world, so that Chinese engineers can contribute more wisdom to global governance of engineering fields.

Last, the society will serve as an advisory body on topics related to global engineering frontiers, industry development and intellectual property protection.