こうえいフォーラム第 13 号 / 2005. 1

INITIATIVES IN CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR ENGINEERS ATNIPPON KOEI
日本工営における技術者の継続教育方法

佐々木寿朗*
Toshiro SASAKI

日本における建設コンサルタントのリーディングファームの1つである日本工営が、全社の技術力強化に向け、この2年間実施しているユニークな取り組みについて紹介する。1つは人材育成の支援策であり社内CPD制度、キャリアヴィジョン とアクションプランを作成する短期研修（TD・P研修）、技術士試験受験支援、人材交流制度、およびキャリアモニタリングからなる。2つ目はこのような育成策の成果を含む人的情報を技術情報の一部として全社的に共有し循環を図る知的情報プラットフォームの運用である。
Key Words：人材育成、支援策、キャリアビジョンとアクションプラン、継続教育(CPD)制度、資格取得支援、人材交流制度、キャリアモニタリング、知的情報プラットフォーム

Through subsequent attempts at economic recovery, expenditure

1. INTRODUCTION
Nippon Koei Co., Ltd. has been leading consultant firm forproviding comprehensive services in the field of technicalassistance to developing countries for a long time. Now, Nippon
Koei has been implementing new measures in continuing
education since April, 2002 to enhance the technical capability ofengineers as professional staff. The present paper introduces thebackground, structure, progress, and future outlook for thison public works expanded temporarily but quickly declined
thereafter, and this trend has continued to date. It is reported that
there will be a further 15% contraction in public works spending
over the next five years. Meanwhile, the tide of globalization ispressuring Japan to liberalize and deregulate various markets,
including those for public-works projects.
As part of such globalization, the APEC Engineer Register was
established in 2001 to promote the mobilization of engineers

initiative.

among APEC economies.

equivalence of qualifications of engineers in participating

2. BACKGROUND
Nippon Koei, (hereinafter called as NK) consists of four
operating divisions, i.e., Domestic Consulting Administration,
Overseas Consulting Administration, Power Engineering
Administration and Socio-environmental Engineering Division.
Out of its 1,600 employees, 1,100 are engineers and among these,
650 are certified PE. Since its foundation in 1946 by Yutaka
Kubota, Nippon Koei has developed into an engineering groupwith much to contribute to both domestic andinternational

infrastructure development. In recent years, the company has
made advances in meeting environmental needs for supporting
sustainable development. Its management philosophy is"contributing to society through technology with sincerity." After
1991, when the cold war ended with the collapse of the SovietUnion, bubble economy in Japan went through rapid decline.
*中央研究所 技術情報・人材開発センター

This system recognizes theeconomies. Qualified Engineers (PE) are registered as APEC
engineers and can be accepted as equal to any local engineers
with mutual agreement of participating economies. Indispensable
requirements for APEC engineers include completion ofengineering education, a certain amount of practical experience,
observance of engineer's ethics (ensuring of safety) andcontinuing professional development (CPD). Since not all theserequirements had previously been included in the standards forJapanese PE

certification system, Japan quickly revised the PE

Law and became a founding member of the APEC EngineerRegister. While the aim of the PE Law remains the same, that is,
technological improvement and national economic growth, there
has been a major shift in the idea of the archetypal engineer frombeing single-minded and task-oriented to being conscientious andvaluing professional ethics and social peace.
Considering these external and internal factors and exploring
how to provide long term career development, Nippon Koei
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INITIATIVES IN CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR ENGINEERS AT NIPPON KOEI

prepared a booklet, "Career Vision for NK Engineers." This

implementing training, MSP, and CPD, or providing support forbooklet, which was distributed to all employees in November,qualification acquisition, 3) career monitoring, 4) providing

2001, stresses that an engineer's capabilities are the source ofservices (e.g., proposals, technology, marketing) utilizing thecompany profit, and that long-term increase in technicalnewly acquired qualifications and skills, 5) implementing

capability ensures a competitive edge and contributes to increased

services, 6) systematization of acquired technology, 7) evaluating

profit. The booklet also presents the company's ideal image of an

projects and the people managing them, and 8) career

engineer and introduces new policies to support engineers in theirmanagement.

career development. In order to implement these policies, theThe cycle of informational circulation is expected to be no

Knowledge Information & Human Resources Development

longer than one year. While all the components (or functions)Center was established in April, 2002.

such as capability-building, marketing and operational activities
have long been in place, a management style that stresses

3. OVERVIEW OF NEW MEASURES

information circulation about each of the components has not

The Knowledge Information & Human Resources

been clearly defined before. The most prominent features of ourDevelopment Center offers support for engineers through thesystem are the new components such as the NK Engineer CPD

following five measures:and the system for the circulation of information.

- CPD system for engineers- Technical Development training/Professional training (TD-P)- Study seminars for PE qualification- Talented individuals exchange system (Multi Seed Program,"MSP")- Career monitoring system
These measures alone, however, are not sufficient to achieve
our final aim and contribute to profit. In other words, thecompany reaps benefits only when there is a structure that canutilize the maximum potential of the improved capabilities ofeach engineer. Based on this thinking, the system is designed toshare personnel information on the capability and careerdevelopment of engineers, along with other technical information,

Fig.2．Company-wide Information Circulation

throughout the company. There are various components tostrengthening technical capability, and all need to be connected inFig.2 indicates the types of managed information and Fig.3

a closed circle so that information can circulate among the people

shows the information database system for sharing and utilizing

involved in these various components. We believe thatsuch information by company intranet. Fundamentally, thisengineering education pays off in company profits when technicalsystem environment consists of a communication environment

information continuously flows in this circle.

shared by all employees and an information search environment.

Fig.1 indicates the actual flow of information to people

The information that can be searched are 1) career-related

involved in 1) planning for bringing up technical capability, 2)Fig.1．Company-wide Information Circulation
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Fig.3．Information Shearing Networkこうえいフォーラム第 13 号 / 2005. 1

information such as CPD records, curriculum vitae (CV), andwith their superiors for performance review and setting future

personnel records, and 2) document information including projecttargets for capability development.

reports, books and maps as well as intellectual property
information owned by the company.
Furthermore, since the communication between users and the

5. TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT (TD) TRAINING
AND PROFESSIONAL (P) TRAINING

platform master include some important technical information,

Nippon Koei has been systematically conducting extensive in-such information is planned to be standardized and shared. Thehouse training in two broad categories: professional skills andsoftware program for our communication environment is also

technical skills. Within each category, there are four types ofused by the Japan Society of Civil Engineers.

training: 1) mandatory (base formation), 2) role development, 3)
selective (strategic capability bringing up), and 4) elective (self-4. IN-HOUSE CPD SYSTEM

development). Engineers receive both types of training according

The NK Engineer CPD system ensures that all employees

to their age and experience. TD training and P training are three-working in technical fields are encouraged to participate in theday, stay-over, mandatory training seminars for the engineers

CPD. The system helps participants to achieve their goals

whose ages are 30, 40 and 50 and are considered essential for

efficiently in a cycle where they set their own targets andplanning their future career.

schedules, follow through their own programs, and evaluate theresults.

During this program, two types of records are kept:

Record Sheet 1 is used for target setting and evaluation andRecord Sheet 2 is for recording all training attended. Record
Sheet 2 is almost identical to the official CPD Record Sheet
designated by the Institution of Professional Engineers, Japan(IPEJ) and thus the records entered on this sheet can easily beregistered as PE CPD records at IPEJ.
While we consider Record Sheet 1 as the more important of thetwo for the effective implementation of CPD, we also use Record
Sheet 2 since PE is the major professional qualification in ourFig.4．Structure and Aim of TD Trainingcompany, and compliance with the PE CPD is important. Thesuggested duration of CPD is set at 50 hours, following the PE

The aims are to motivate engineers to form, maintain andstandards, but we place more emphasis on the cyclical approach

expand their expertise and teach them how to continue theirof planning, implementation, and evaluation in accordance withstudy. At the age of 30, engineers go through TD training whereRecord Sheet 1.

they establish their expertise, set career visions for the next 10

The contents of CPD are generally determined by theyears, and prepare action plans for achieving those goals. At theengineer's own initiatives as they themselves deem necessary.

age of 40, they participate in P training where they set their career

This is consistent with the PE

visions and action plans for the following five years, examining

standards. Following thestandards for the PE qualification and the Japan Society of Civil

how to maintain and expand their expertise.

Engineers, we accredit a range of formats for CPD: in-house
technical seminars for technical development and professional
training; external activities such as seminar participation;
preparation of publications (books and papers); lectures, andcommittee activity; self-study for sitting qualification
examinations.
Twenty months after we commenced operation of the CPD
system, we surveyed all candidates and discovered that theFig.5．Transition from TD Training to CPD

participation rate was low. Subsequently, we distributed a PR
pamphlet to the company's engineers stressing the necessity ofAn outline of the components of the TD training is shown in

CPD and asked for their understanding and cooperation. We

Fig.4. In addition to these components, TD training also 1)

provide these pamphlets to engineers at the time of interviews

presents an overall scheme of company-wide technical capability103

INITIATIVES IN CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR ENGINEERS AT NIPPON KOEI

strengthening, of which TD training is one part (Fig.1), 2)
instructs attendees to divide their Action Plan into smaller steps ofshorter CPD plans (six months or a year) to facilitate
implementation (Fig.5), 3) promotes the formation of a human
network among participants and lecturers, which is important forcontinuing education, 4) stresses the importance of an engineer'sautonomy, 5) presents lectures on professional ethics, and 6)
reminds them to reconvene in two to five years to check theprogress of all members.

Moreover, we observe the following

Fig.7．Correlation between tutoring and pass rate for PE
exam

guidelines to ensure the effectiveness of the training:・Fellow engineers with leadership quality make presentations on

6. SUPPORT FOR ACQUIRING PE QUALIFICATION

how their own expertise was developed and describe their more

For the past ten years, the importance of the PE qualification

outstanding professional experiences.

has been increasing among construction consultants. In the past,・Lecturers are about 5 or 6 years senior to the participants so

persons nominated as project manager in construction consultingthat they are closer in age and likely to communicate andproposals were required to have one of the following three

instruct them after the trainings.

qualifications: PE accreditation, doctorate, or equivalent・The number of participants is between 15 and 25.

capability. However, over time the equivalent capability and・Participants from heterogeneous fields shall be trained together

doctorate qualifications have been dropped and now the only

so that they stimulate each other and build a network across thecriterion accepted is PE accreditation. Project engineers are alsofields.

selected in accordance with their qualifications. Considering such

These trainings are meant to motivate participants to achievechanges, we now offer financial incentives for those who succeed

their goals through CPD after the seminars. In other words,

in passing the PE examination. We also assign our engineers who

unless each participant actually engages in CPD, his technicalhave already gained PE accreditation to tutor the candidates forcapability can not be strengthened. It is important that these new

their written examination. Since there are certain trends in themeasures be recognized and respected throughout the company soexam questions and the answers require a great deal of writingthat the participants can partake in and continue with CPD after

within a limited time, it is helpful to prepare practice questions

they return to their stations. Fortunately, these seminars haveand prepare the model answers. Fig.7 illustrates the effectivenessreceived favorable reviews from the participants and we canof tutoring for the PE exam.

expect them to take on the role of advocates for these newmeasures. In 2003, we extended the age limit for TD training to34 in the hope that it would be better recognized and take root in
the company (Fig.6).

7. TALENTED-PEOPLE EXCHANGE SYSTEM
In today's fast changing world, in order to secure long-term
employability, engineers are required to cultivate flexibility andwider perspective beyond their own specialty. Our talentedpeople exchange system allows young engineers (around 30 yearsof age) to have experience in another field or station for threeyears. Such exchanges are only possible through a company-wide
initiative. These exchanges can be between: 1) sections (e.g.,domestic and overseas), 2) different fields, 3) head and branchoffices, 4) research and development, 5) different types of work
(e.g., technical and marketing), 6) companies, and 7) head officeand overseas project office. We prepare a list of candidates andtheir qualifications and seek agreement between the candidate andparties involved before an actual decision is made. After thisFig.6．Age distribution of TD&P training participants

system was introduced, engineers began to give it positive
consideration and it fostered a sense of independence. Such amindset seems to facilitate further rejuvenation of networking and104

こうえいフォーラム第 13 号 / 2005. 1

information circulation for enhanced strengthening of technicalparticipants mention the acquisition of this qualification over thecapability company-wide.

ensuing several years. As such, we can refer to the number andrate of engineers in our company acquiring this qualification over

8. CAREER MONITORING
For any system to function properly, a feedback process isthe next few years as an index of the effectiveness of ourmeasures for company-wide technical capability strengthening.

absolutely necessary, and monitoring is an essential part of such aprocess. We monitor the constantly-changing human resource

10. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

information such as CPD records, CVs, and personnel

This paper fully depends on the original Proceedings pp365-

information (internal and external qualifications, fields of370 of the 9th World Conference on Continuing Engineering

specialty, career paths, and other personal information). Among

Education (WCCEE) held on Tokyo, Japan in May 2004.

these, all the records except CPD data already exist, but havebeen managed in different ways. Some data were held in acompany-wide database while others were maintained by eachdepartment or section. We are coordinating these different
sources and gradually building an integrated, comprehensive
career monitoring environment. Recent monitoring of CPD foundthat the general rate of implementation was rather low andtriggered the company-wide promotion of its implementation. At
the moment, we conduct partial career monitoring throughstudying monitoring results from individual items such as CVs.
We also review the outcomes and evaluate the utility of theindividual items for monitoring. Through accumulation of suchpartial monitoring, we hope to gradually build a larger careermonitoring system.

9. FUTURE TASKS AND PROSPECTS(1) FUTURE TASKSCurrently, we are planning P training (2) for engineers at theage of 50, but have not yet finalized the contents. The aim of thistraining will be the same as that of P training (1) for 40-year-old
engineers: the maintenance and expansion of one's expertise. Oneoption under consideration is to assign participants to take the roleof knowledge information platform masters and have them reply
to all the technical questions related to their field for one year.
Instead of being motivated by a short-term intensive seminar, theparticipants might have a better chance of maintaining andexpanding their technical knowledge by answering questions andproviding advice. Since the answers and advice have to be given
during their term as platform master, the new knowledge andskills that they can master may be limited, but we can also expect
an immediate effect, which seems to be a need of the current
business climate.
(2) PROSPECTS
Today, the PE qualification is indispensable for engineers inour company. In their action plans, almost all TD training

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