frenchjudge
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Hi guys,
I'm having big troubles with Engineers Australia. I'd like to share with you and hopefully get some advice.
I am a mechanical engineer with 7 years of experience in France. I took a break in my engineering career and spent the last 3 years holidaying in Australia. Last December, I applied for a skill assessment in order to work here and migrate permanently. I paid the fast track fee and got an outcome early January.
However, they changed my occupation to ANZSCO 233999 Engineering Professionals
(nec).
To understand why, let me tell you the difference between french education system and Australia/English/American model.
- In Australia, you study at university 4 years in one discipline and get a "Bachelor degree in mechanical engineering", a "Bachelor degree in electrical engineering"...
- In France, you start with 2 years of intensive preparatory course in sciences and then study 3 more years in an engineering school, a prestigious institute independent from universities. Schools are more or less specialised in one or more disciplines, but anyway, in the end you get an "engineering degree from School X" or an "engineering degree from School Y". Specialisation discipline is never mentioned on the degree certificate.
After getting the wrong outcome, I applied and paid for a review. I attached my transcripts highlighting all the mechanical subjects. They are more that 60% of all subjects, and given the fact that my course is longer and much more intensive than an Australian Bachelor, I studied more mechanical related subjects that any Australian mechanical engineer. I attached the curriculums of Australian Bachelor courses to prove my fact. I also attached the job descriptions of my previous jobs which all required a mechanical engineer. I also attached Australian job advertisements which fit my skills perfectly (both my experience and my education), and require mechanical engineers. Some of them even require a skills assessment from EA as a mech eng.
They rejected my review request, and simply said "you're degree is: masters degree in engineering from school...", So they classify me as "other engineers". They said that my transcripts show a general course, disregarding totally what I highlighted and demonstrated in the cover letter.
This is so absurd that they even recognised my 7 years experience, with positions such as "mechanical engineer" or "mechanical design engineer". Buy won't say that I am qualified as a mechanical engineer.
I have never been able to talk to my case officer, and they have been very rude to me on the phone. Now, they tell me my only option is to request an appeal.
So now I don't know what to do. I totally lost faith that they are competent in any way and wonder what would be the wisest move now.
Do you think it would be smart to apply for an appeal, pay and wait 6 months?
I just obtained a statutory declaration from my school certifying I studied mechanical engineering. I also contacted the CTI, the french organisation which has an agreement for mutual recognition of qualifications.
Anyone who's been through the same process? Any suggestion on how to make progress on this case would be invaluable help for me.
Thanks for reading me (and sorry for the length, but I tried hard to make it short)
I'm having big troubles with Engineers Australia. I'd like to share with you and hopefully get some advice.
I am a mechanical engineer with 7 years of experience in France. I took a break in my engineering career and spent the last 3 years holidaying in Australia. Last December, I applied for a skill assessment in order to work here and migrate permanently. I paid the fast track fee and got an outcome early January.
However, they changed my occupation to ANZSCO 233999 Engineering Professionals
(nec).
To understand why, let me tell you the difference between french education system and Australia/English/American model.
- In Australia, you study at university 4 years in one discipline and get a "Bachelor degree in mechanical engineering", a "Bachelor degree in electrical engineering"...
- In France, you start with 2 years of intensive preparatory course in sciences and then study 3 more years in an engineering school, a prestigious institute independent from universities. Schools are more or less specialised in one or more disciplines, but anyway, in the end you get an "engineering degree from School X" or an "engineering degree from School Y". Specialisation discipline is never mentioned on the degree certificate.
After getting the wrong outcome, I applied and paid for a review. I attached my transcripts highlighting all the mechanical subjects. They are more that 60% of all subjects, and given the fact that my course is longer and much more intensive than an Australian Bachelor, I studied more mechanical related subjects that any Australian mechanical engineer. I attached the curriculums of Australian Bachelor courses to prove my fact. I also attached the job descriptions of my previous jobs which all required a mechanical engineer. I also attached Australian job advertisements which fit my skills perfectly (both my experience and my education), and require mechanical engineers. Some of them even require a skills assessment from EA as a mech eng.
They rejected my review request, and simply said "you're degree is: masters degree in engineering from school...", So they classify me as "other engineers". They said that my transcripts show a general course, disregarding totally what I highlighted and demonstrated in the cover letter.
This is so absurd that they even recognised my 7 years experience, with positions such as "mechanical engineer" or "mechanical design engineer". Buy won't say that I am qualified as a mechanical engineer.
I have never been able to talk to my case officer, and they have been very rude to me on the phone. Now, they tell me my only option is to request an appeal.
So now I don't know what to do. I totally lost faith that they are competent in any way and wonder what would be the wisest move now.
Do you think it would be smart to apply for an appeal, pay and wait 6 months?
I just obtained a statutory declaration from my school certifying I studied mechanical engineering. I also contacted the CTI, the french organisation which has an agreement for mutual recognition of qualifications.
Anyone who's been through the same process? Any suggestion on how to make progress on this case would be invaluable help for me.
Thanks for reading me (and sorry for the length, but I tried hard to make it short)