Yes, Jim but surely that depends on the support of the department, if the department doesn't support the VRCT they won't set-up a training scheme and hence without departmental support there's no way onto the VRCT!
Chris I unnderstand that there may be a problem here but we lay down the ground rules and trust that organisations will support their new employees - sadly many do not. However, in the face of that intransigence we are currently developing a new system which will involve the submission of an applicant's portfolio. Hopefully this will circumvent some of the difficulties currently faced. I hope this will happen soon.
Also in regards to 5. why didn't the VRCT set-up using the same model as the engineering council with the member institutions collecting the fees? At least those who aren't members of ipem wouldn't have to deal with ipem and if it was bundled with their institutes subscription fees, it might actually be tax deductible.
It is hard enough collecting and confirming payment of the VRCT fees through IPEM never mind setting up further systems through the partner professional bodies. Furthermore, around half of Registrants are not members of any professional body so they must be collected through IPEM.
Jim Methven
