Abstract
This paper explores the regulation of professional engineering and how the licensing process itself impacts the labour market position of immigrant engineers. Guided by the social ontology and method of inquiry of institutional ethnography, this paper provides a map of the licensing process for engineering in Ontario and shows how immigrant engineers are constructed as exceptions to the process, despite the fact that immigrant engineers outnumber Ontario engineering graduates. Having to first go though individualized academic and work experience assessments, they also require one year Canadian work experience. Research has shown that it is difficult for immigrant engineers to successfully complete the licensing process. This paper details the administrative work processes that cause delays and difficulties for immigrant engineers, and discusses the labour market implications of not having a professional licence.
Highlights
Before she immigrated to Canada, Ivy Zheng, a mechanical engineer who worked in the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, received a national award for her design of electric and hydraulic control components for the Chinese space program
While immigrant engineers are recruited for their education and work experience, once they settle in Ontario and apply for a professional licence, they face a complex, lengthy textually mediated application process which is impossible to complete without gaining relevant Canadian work experience (Slade, 2008; 2003)
The numbers suggest that it is important for the engineering licensing process to be thoroughly reviewed with respect to equity based on gender and on place of education
Summary
Résumé Le présent article explore la réglementation de la profession d’ingénieur et la façon dont le processus-même d’obtention de la licence a des répercussions sur la situation des ingénieurs immigrants sur le marché du travail. L’article s’inspire de l’ontologie sociale et de la méthode d’enquête de l’ethnographie institutionnelle pour dresser une carte du processus d’obtention de licence en Ontario, où les ingénieurs immigrants sont traités comme des exceptions, bien qu’ils soient en fait plus nombreux que les diplômés d’écoles de génie ontariennes. D’abord soumis à une évaluation individuelle de leurs études et de leur expérience de travail, doivent aussi avoir un an d’expérience de travail au Canada. L’article présente en détail les processus de travail administratif qui entraînent des retards et des difficultés pour les ingénieurs immigrés et explore les répercussions sur l’employabilité de l’absence d’une licence
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