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ASSOCIATIONS and across Asia. RINA’s reputation is all of which had to be delivered with a RINA’. Being on the ground, visible gence in membership. Resurgence was now con? dent and dynamic - member- healthy dose of dynamism and determi- and in attendance, travelling for many a reaction to the Institution addressing ship is booming and branches prolif- nation. It’s fair to say that Engineers hundreds of hours and many thousands the challenge and becoming relevant to erating. The decisions and challenges don’t join professional institutions just of miles has clearly been important. But, a new breed of engineer.

that contributed to this renaissance have for the sake of being a member; mem- there also needed to be a clearly articu- De? ning that compelling rationale largely been concerned with rede? ning bership has to mean something. It wasn’t lated rationale, communicated with con- to answer the question ‘why become a

RINA’s role, modernizing its operation a case of turning up at companies, uni- viction to engineers on every point of the member?’ required a clear understanding and strengthening its ? nancial position; versities and schools and saying ‘join compass for this to result in such resur- of what the role of a modern professional institution should be. A professional en- gineer is de? ned by not only what he or she does, but the manner in which they practice their profession. That is the dif- ference between a profession and a job, between a professional engineer and an engineer. The role of the modern Insti- tution is to enable and advance how the individual engineers conduct themselves and progress their career for the bene? t of the profession as a whole. And, if the institution is to ‘enable and advance’ it must demand in return that standards of behaviour and professional competence are met because these are key attributes which directly re? ect on how the pro- fession is perceived as a whole. Hence effective governance, setting and mea- suring professional standards, academic achievement and professional develop- ment all form part of the modern Institu- tion’s remit – in addition to promoting and sharing knowledge and expertise.

Achieving this clarity of perspective enabled RINA to present itself in a per- tinent and coherent way to the global en- gineering community.

So, if being a member of an institu- tion such as RINA means a commitment to behaving according to the rules and standards set down and enforced by the

Institution in order to bene? t from being under its auspices; what are the bene? ts?

The value of being part of a commu- nity of likeminded individuals sharing and promoting their ideas and achieve- ments is that it enables the community to extend its skills and knowledge while adhering to certain standards. It is never more accurate than in this context that the whole is worth more than the sum of its parts. Individually naval architects can achieve remarkable things; together they can push the boundaries of what is currently considered possible.

Less esoteric, perhaps, is what mem- bership means to those buying the ser- vices of the profession. In this context membership gives them a point of both assurance and differentiation. This is perhaps the key to RINA’s renaissance overseas. As different parts of the world have matured and industrialized, inter- national membership of RINA has been embraced. Some parts of the world,

A properly optimized Bulbous which historically may have been con-

Bow can offer signi? cant savings.

sidered somewhat suspect in their prac- 22 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • JANUARY 2015

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