Published:
Heriot-Watt University Malaysia (HWUM) marked another milestone on 22 August 2023, by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) to facilitate the bulk registration of our engineering graduates as Graduate Engineers with BEM. The Signing Ceremony took place at MATRADE Exhibition and Convention Centre (MECC), Kuala Lumpur, during the Opening Ceremony of the BEM Convention 2023, which was officiated by the Minister of Works, YB Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi. The University also received an RM10,000 award contribution for outstanding engineering graduates for a period of five years.
The BEM Convention 2023 themed “Engineering ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) for the Nation” advocates the pivotal role of engineering in fostering ESG practices for national development. Over 400 participants attended the convention in-person. and 1,000 participants attended virtually.
The Convention serves as a platform to raise stakeholder awareness, including governmental bodies, about issues influencing the engineering community. Among the issues that led to the signing of the MoU with Institutions of Higher Learnings are unregistered engineers, which remains a concern.
BEM actively addresses this through engagement with Institutions of Higher Learning in the e-Bulk Registration MoU. BEM has signed MoU with 31 universities including HWUM. The Signing Ceremony also witnessed seven other universities signed the MoU - these universities were Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), University Malaya (UM), Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur (IUKL), Multimedia University (MMU), Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), and International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).
In his welcoming speech, BEM President, Datuk Ir Haji Ahmad Redza Ghulam Rasool said:
In the move to increase the number of registered engineers, this MoU is to streamline the process for engineering graduates from local universities to register with BEM prior to their graduation ceremony for employment preparation.
He added, “It is also BEM's intention to ensure that all individual seeking to provide engineering services or take up engineering jobs are registered with BEM in accordance with the requirements of the Registration of Engineers Act 1967.”
All graduated engineering students will be assisted by the respective university in the registration process with BEM. For the past five years, BEM has registered around 14,000 graduate engineers every year.