Highway to the top

For graduate engineers in its highways and transportation infrastructure division, Atkins China has developed a structured training programme encompassing on-the-job and classroom training, and support for chartered engineer examinations.

The company enrols its graduate engineers mainly in Scheme A of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE). It enrols some in the Britain-based Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), which has a local affiliated institution, according to Douglas Simmons, associate director of highways and transport infrastructure at Atkins China. Mr Simmons is also the supervising civil engineer for ICE training at the company.

'Scheme A of HKIE and the ICE programme share the same training objectives. HKIE is more structured and its course follows a fixed three-year schedule whereas ICE allows for a longer period and provides greater flexibility for some graduate engineers, who may choose to spend one year abroad for training or switch from one company to another,' he said.

Atkins China's structured training programme enables graduate engineers to achieve a set of objectives over three years. The objectives include application of theories, options studies, enhancement of communication skills, budget control, people management skills and project administration.

'Graduate engineers will receive a certificate at the end of the training period. They will then be able to prepare for their professional exams. Atkins China provides them with support in essay writing for the exams. We will help them through the process of putting together their experience reports and project reports. We will also conduct mock interviews with graduate engineers and coach them on presentation skills and techniques,' Mr Simmons said.

As part of its continuing professional development, Atkins China supports graduate engineers with paid leave to achieve their training objectives. Each one is also allocated a budget for a study tour.