Structural Support,
What is your opinion on the scaffolding design companies that have been around quite a long time where the founders only have an HND in Civil Engineering? They have plenty of experience, but would you say their potential has been limited? There's one not far from you...
I agree with your statement above.. I think a degree is the minimum, the additional skills that are required / useful are not necessarily covered in much detail in an HND (Solid Mechanics, Soil Mechanics, Steelwork design, Fluid mechanics in relation to wind, project management etc).
Also, I recently asked a couple of people I know who finished a HNC in Civil Engineering in the last 2 years if their course covered the requirements of CDM?... No they didn't. They were mentioned, but not covered in any detail.
Finally, my personal opinion is that there will never be any true measure of competence of design engineers in scaffolding until there is a system similar to the training for IEng/CEng.. with core objectives, formal reporting and assessment and a professional review. Can't see it ever happening though as half the people working in the industry wouldn't meet the criteria.. (amongst other things).
B.