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Engineers in a strange land

When foreign engineers come to ply their trade in Québec, some local customs may surprise them, from the intricacies of the licensing process to cultural differences at the job interview. What to expect when you’re not in Kansas (or Kinshasa) anymore.

By Hélèna Katz

[ 2007-11-20 ]

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Jorge Angeles, eng., faced an odd situation, but one that many international engineering graduates know all too well. On the strength of a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Mexico and a PhD in applied mechanics from Stanford University, he had been tenured as a full professor in Mexico. Then, in 1984, the opportunity to work with the McGill Centre for Intelligent Machines lured him to restart his career.

“At 40, I accepted a tenure-track associate professor position,” he says. To gain admission to the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ), he found himself taking courses in subjects he’d written entire books on. “It was a bit bizarre, but I don’t regret it — and I think it’s something the engineering association has the right to do.”

International engineering graduates may start gaining Canadian experience under the supervision of an engineer as they apply for a permit. However, before being able to practise as a full-fledged engineer in Quebec, they must fulfill requirements imposed by the profession. OIQ President Zaki Ghavitian, eng., explains: “As a professional Order, our mission is to protect the public, so we control licence holders. We have to ensure we aren’t putting the public at risk.” Prospective members are often required to write technical exams to evaluate their knowledge. Last year, the organization received 900 applications from international engineering graduates, and already 10 percent of its 53,000 members had been trained abroad.

The retirement of the Baby Boomer generation will create a shortage of engineers in Québec and open up new opportunities for engineers from all over the world. “Engineers from elsewhere are a group who can pick up the torch, since students graduating from Québec universities won’t be enough to meet the demand,” Ghavitian says.

Meeting overseas applicants partway

Musandji Fuamba, eng., came to Montréal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1998 with an engineering degree from the university in Kinshasa and a master’s and doctorate from Belgium’s Université catholique de Louvain. War in his homeland had prevented him from practising there. “When I came here, the goal was to practise — but I couldn’t,” he says. “I didn’t know there was an engineering association and that I had to have a licence to practise.”

The OIQ has since teamed up with Québec’s ministère des Communautés culturelles et de l’immigration to address this issue, developing a website that outlines the steps that new arrivals have to follow to obtain a licence [see sidebar]. According to Angeles, the licensing process is one of the aspects that sets North America apart from the home countries of many immigrant engineers. When he finished his original five-year program in Mexico, all he had to do to receive professional certification was submit a form to a government body. “After that, I was a full-fledged engineer,” he recalls. “In the United States and Canada you have to go through a registration process.”

Colombian junior engineer Javier Masmela was told of the requirements by a Québec immigration official in Bogota. He arrived in Canada in July 2005 with nine years of work experience and passed his exams in May 2006. “Since there are many engineers from elsewhere, there has to be a means to ensure that they’re competent to practise in Québec,” he says. He became a member of the OIQ in August and found a job as a junior engineer in September. “I’m missing Canadian work experience, which I’m in the process of obtaining,” he explains.

The ABCs of OIQ licensing

All engineering graduates must apply to the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec for a permit to practise.

Foreign-trained applicants may be asked to supply descriptions of the courses they have taken, a detailed CV of relevant work experience, proof they have participated in professional development activities since they graduated, and proof of proficiency in French.

The application process can be shorter for engineering graduates from a country that the OIQ recognizes as granting engineering degrees equivalent to that of a Québec university.

A committee of examiners at the OIQ evaluates each application. It can recommend that the OIQ recognize the applicant’s degree as equivalent to that of a Québec university, or that the person write exams to evaluate their knowledge.

The number of exams a candidate is required to write can vary according to the degree-granting institution, whether the applicant has a graduate degree in engineering, and how many years’ work experience he or she has.

Successful applicants join the OIQ as junior engineers.

To become full members, applicants must pass a professional exam, demonstrate proficiency in French and acquire three years of work experience, including at least one in Canada.

Details are available at www.oiq.qc.ca and www.immigration-quebec.gouv.qc.ca (French only).