Use this material to examine your own work. Confirm current requirements, forms and dates with IStructE before applying.
To earn Chartered Membership of IStructE, you must satisfy both parts of Professional Review: the interview and the examination.
What the standards ask for
The ten Core Objectives are each set to a minimum standard of Knowledge, Experience or Ability. Those words have defined meanings, and they are not a scale of enthusiasm:
- Knowledge: you understand the subject and its application.
- Experience: you have performed it, independently or under supervision.
- Ability: you perform it without supervision, and you are competent to advise others.
At Chartered Member level, four objectives are set at Ability: Communication, Concept Creation and Design, Analysis and Sizing, and Materials. Four are set at Experience, and two at Knowledge. The Core Objectives library sets out each one.
The practical consequence is that your evidence has to be worded to the right level. The guidance is direct about this: if an objective is set at Ability, do not describe your work using the language of experience or knowledge.
The same project, written at two levels
Fictional example: a multi-storey frame, structural engineer
I have experience of concept design. I worked on the structural scheme for a six-storey office building, where the team developed a reinforced-concrete frame with a transfer structure at first floor.
I produced the structural concept for a six-storey office. The architect's column-free ground floor forced a transfer at first floor, and I compared a transfer beam against a storey-deep truss. I sized both, found the truss removed the 1.4 m downstand that was compromising the plant zone, and recommended it. I set the stability strategy — a single core, with the floor plate acting as a diaphragm — and I advised the project architect on where the core could and could not move.
The second version is written at Ability: work performed without supervision, with the candidate advising others. The first is written at Experience, and would not meet the Chartered standard for this objective: quite apart from being a description of what a team did.
Engineering Council registration
Chartered Membership and registration as a Chartered Engineer are related but separate. The Institution is licensed by the Engineering Council to assess and register engineers against UK-SPEC; it does so through its own Core Objectives. The academic requirement for CEng registration is set by the Engineering Council, which is why the academic base has to be settled before the rest of the process is worth planning.
Confirm your own position with IStructE: the academic requirement, and whether an assessment or an alternative route applies to you, are decisions only the Institution can make.
Official sources
Selected publisher pages were rechecked in September 2026. Other source records were last checked in July 2026. Open the latest official document before relying on a requirement.