British professional qualifications

Professional qualifications in the United Kingdom are titles or awards granted by professional bodies. Many British professional qualifications are subject to the European directives on professional qualifications. Most, but not all, professional qualifications are 'Chartered' qualifications, and follow on from having been admitted to a degree (or having an equivalent qualification). The term "professional qualification" can also be used to refer to higher-level vocational qualifications in "professional" roles.

There are four forms of regulated profession in the UK, with respect to the European directives on professional qualifications: professions regulated by law or public authority; professions regulated by professional bodies incorporated by royal charter; professions regulated under Regulation 35; and the seven sectoral professions with harmonised training requirements across the European Union. The European directives are given force of law in the UK via regulations issued by the Secretary of State under the European Communities Act 1972; the most recent regulations are The European Union (Recognition of Professional Qualifications) Regulations 2015.

The Gatsby Charitable Foundation has been supporting the development of professional qualifications for technicians, such as the Science Council's Registered Science Technician (RSciTech), the Engineering Council's Engineering Technician (EngTech) and ICT Technician (ICTTech), and the British Computer Society's Registered IT Technician (RITTech). Analysis by the Foundation identifies three levels of professional qualification on a "registration ladder" in science and engineering: technician registration, requiring Advanced Apprenticeships, A Levels, BTEC nationals, or similar awards at levels 3–4 on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (now replaced by the Regulated Qualifications Framework); intermediate qualifications such as Incorporated Engineer (IEng) and Registered Scientist (RSci) requiring Higher Apprenticeships, Higher National Diplomas, foundation degrees, bachelor's degrees, or similar awards at levels 5–6; and chartered statuses such as CEng, CSci, CPhys, CChem, etc. that require master's degrees or similar qualifications at level 7 or above.

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