NARTE has appointed York EMC Services Ltd, University of York, as the first NARTE Authorised Test Centre in the UK. NARTE are also working with York to develop an education programme to enable EMC engineers and technicians to successfully take the NARTE Certification examinations.
It is important for EMC professionals to be able to demonstrate their particular area of expertise. NARTE Certification is similar in approach to achieving Membership and Chartered status in the IET, that is to say the experience and the education and training requirements must be met in order to achieve certification. Not only is this professional recognition for the individual, it also enables employers to know that an engineer or technician has been independently assessed as an EMC professional and therefore removes any doubt as to whether they are employing a professional or merely an engineer who has ‘dabbled’ with EMC! This is also good news for organisations employing consultants or external test laboratories, as they will be able to identify that engineers or technicians employed on their programmes are adequately qualified.
NARTE, the National Association of Radio and Telecommunications Engineers, Inc with its HQ located in Medway, Massachusetts, was established in 1982, and has offered professional recognition for EMC engineers and technicians under the titles of NARTE Certified EMC Engineer and NARTE Certified EMC Technician since 1986. These professional qualifications have become recognised worldwide and there are currently 170 NARTE Test Centres established throughout the USA and Asia. NARTE offers certification to individuals in a number of related disciplines and operates under the guidelines of ISO/IEC 17024. Since its formation NARTE has certified more than 16,000 professionals in 26 countries.
York is fast approaching (2007) 25 years of delivering continuing professional development (CPD) EMC courses in the UK. York has also been delivering Masters degree programmes in EMC for the last 15 years, providing a limited number of engineers with a recognised specific EMC qualification in the UK. In order to provide a recognised EMC qualification to a larger number of EMC professionals, York approached NARTE in order to be able to provide the education and training programmes needed for engineers and technicians to take the NARTE Certification examinations.
York has been appointed by NARTE as an Authorised Test Centre and will be able hold NARTE examinations. York is also working with NARTE to provide training programmes enabling engineers and technicians to take the appropriate examinations. A new course is being developed specifically aimed at tutoring those who have some EMC education and have EMC experience to take the exams. The NARTE exam is 8 hours in duration, has multiple-choice answers and mirrors the ‘real world’ by being open book.
For further information please contact:
Brian Lawrence, Executive Director, NARTELast updated: 2006-Nov-21
