Engineer's degrees in Europe
In most countries of continental Europe, universities specializing in technical studies have awarded their students an engineer's degree instead of a master's degree. The typical length of studies for an engineer's degree has been five years.
Following the introduction of the Bologna process, it has instead become increasingly common for the universities to split technical studies into two parts, the first being the one after which they award the bachelor's degree (baccalaureus, typically three years), and the second part being an optional two years, upon the successful completion of which they award either the engineer's degree or a master's degree (MEng or MSc).
Countries have varied in the implementation of the Bologna process. Most traditional universities continue to have a primary academic degree program distinct from the program to obtain the Bachelor of Engineering degree. For example, in Finland the two concepts — academic and vocational engineering degree — remain separate, even if the qualification no longer requires one or the other de jure.
A German-style engineer's degree is considered equivalent to an MSc degree in U.S. or UK and in international context, the holders of the Engineer's degree are authorized to use MSc. However, there has been some debate over whether the Engineers should differentiate themselves from a Master of Science, this degree having become victim of inflation lately.
Because the European high school curriculum covers the topics of the typical U.S. freshman year, the five-year-long engineer's degree may legitimately be considered the complete equivalent of the U.S. degree. This case moreover, is supported by the fact that in some parts of Europe, only the most academically able are able to finish their engineering degrees in the time officially prescribed, and the fact that many European states have a rather longer academic year than in the United States.
European institutions in some states argue that a suggestion that American degrees are superior on grounds of their apparent length is unfounded, given these observations. As a final observation, note as an example that the Delft University of Technology does not accept the US secondary school qualification as sufficient for entry.
In France, engineering is taught in Ecoles d'Ingénieurs, which are part of the French Grandes écoles system. Since the Bologna process, the Diplôme d'Ingénieur is officially considered to be at the level of a European master's degree.
Individual country variants before Bologna
In countries with significant German influence on higher education, the engineer's degree was one attained as a Diplom, and was typically awarded after around five years of study. In addition to Germany itself, this has included states like Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.
In German, the traditional engineer's degree is called Diplom-Ingenieur (abbr. Dipl.-Ing.) . This degree is generally equivalent to a Master's degree, which is not to be confused with the old Magister degree. Most programs that used to lead to a Dipl.-Ing. degree lead to Master's degrees today, as the Diplom-Ingenieur as an academical title is phased out because of the Bologna process.
The German University of Applied Sciences (in Germany also called Fachhochschulen) awarded the traditional engineering degree Diplom-Ingenieur (FH) (abbr. Dipl.-Ing (FH)). This degree also required to write a Diplom thesis. This is also being modified by the Bologna process, as bachelor and master degrees from a University of Applied Sciences are equal to the degrees from a traditional university. Universities of Applied Sciences are phased out and they are changed to universities with own faculties and research institutes. These universities are strongly focused on fields like computer science, engineering or business schools. Subjects like Law or Human Medicine etc. which requires a Staatsexamen (state exam) can only studied on the traditional universities.
Since 2005, most Universities in Germany offer Bachelor degree programmes (B.Sc., B.Eng. and others) and Master programmes that lead to the academic degree Master of Science, Master of Engineering, Master of Business Administration and others. Because of the Bologna process the engineering degrees Dipl.-Ing.(FH), Dipl.-Ing., Dipl.-Inf is phased out by Master and Bachelor degrees. For example, most companies who searched for an experienced Diploma Engineer in Germany will search in future for a M.Eng., M.Sc., B.Sc., B.Eng. The German style Diploma Engineer is the same as the Master of Engineering in the U.S.
In Finnish, the engineer's degree is called diplomi-insinööri (abbr. DI), and is obtained after six years of studying. Under the Bologna process, this is split into two parts, the first being one where the students are awarded the intermediate tekniikan kandidaatti degree.
In Finland, the degree B.Eng (insinööri (AMK)) is a professional degree from a Finnish University of Applied Sciences (aka ammattikorkeakoulu)
In the western Slavic-speaking countries, the engineer's degree is called inżynier (Polish), inžinier (Slovak) or inženýr (Czech), the abbreviation is Ir. (inż. in Poland, Ing. in the Czech Republic and Slovakia) and is written before the person's name.
In Poland, the degree of inżynier is available after 3, 3.5 or 4 years of studies (like licencjat in non-engineering science) after final thesis completed (rather easier subjects taken than for MSc.). A magister inżynier (abbr. mgr inż. placed before the name of degree holder) refers to MSc. and engineer together, and is available after 5-years study and final thesis completed.
In Belgium, the degree is Burgerlijk Ingenieur or Ingénieur Civil (abbrev. Ir.). Belgium is particularly noteworthy as having a system under which demands made on students of engineering are particularly severe.
In Portugal, the degree is Engenheiro (abbrev. Eng.), and in Spain it is called Ingeniero (Ing).
In Greece, the degree is Διπλωματούχος Μηχανικός (diplomatouhos mihanikos) and the abbreviation is Διπλ.-Μηχ..
In the Netherlands, somebody holding an engineer's degree is an ingenieur. The abbreviation is ing. for en engineer's degree at "hoger beroeps onderwijs" or higher vocational education level and ir. for an engineer's degree at the "Wetenschappelijk onderwijs" or scientific education level.
Under the Bologna agreement these are being replaced by English-language abbreviations (B.Sc, BBE, M.Sc, etc.), however it should be noted that Dutch (WO) engineering qualifications are extremely demanding and are rarely for example completed in the nominal time. Note further, that an ing. engineer having completed a 4 year HBO or HTS Higher technical school college course, may enter a nominally 5 year ir. (internationally 3+2 year B.Sc+M.Sc) course at the start of its 4th (1st M.Sc) year, only on completion of a demanding 1 year "schakelprogramma" or crossover programme.
In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the degree is Civilingeniør / Sivilingeniør / Civilingenjör (regardless of the actual specialty and thus not to be confused with the English civil engineer). This retains the 19th century idea that the "actual" engineers were the military ones.
In Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, the degree is специалист инженер (specialist inzhenyer), a first degree after 5 years of study.
In France, the degree is Diplôme d'Ingénieur, while the title is Ingénieur diplômé (ID) but is never used before the holder's name. The degree can be obtained after five years of engineering studies after the Baccalauréat.
In Italy until 2001 there were two degrees: 3 years long "diploma in ingegneria" (BEng level, title abbrev. "dipl. ing.") and 5 years long "laurea in ingegneria" (MEng level, title abbrev. "ing."). Since 2001 reform, the bachelor level is called "laurea" (abbrev. "L") and master degree level is called "laurea specialistica" or "laurea magistrale" (abbrev. "LS"). Accordingly, today after 3 years of engineering studies can be obtained the degree called "laurea in ingegneria" (BEng level) and the title of "Ingegnere junior" (abbrev. "ing. jr."). After five years of engineering studies can be obtained the degree called "laurea magistrale in ingegneria" (MEng level) and the title of "Ingegnere" (abbrev. "ing.").
Romania follows the French system and the engineering degree is called "Diploma de inginer", this being a 5 year degree course equivalent to a Master's degree (MSc/M.Eng). The five year course concludes with a comprehensive set of specialising exams ("examen de diploma"). Marks 9 or 10 are considered exceptional. Some universities award a so called "Diploma de Sub-inginer" which is a 3 year course equivalent to a B.Eng degree.
The situation in Spain is very similar to French one but for the non-existence of Grandes Écoles. Engineer's degrees traditionally used to be (at least nominally) six-year programs but the tendency since the mid 90s has been to reduce them to five years. The last step to get the degree is the Proyecto de Fin de Carrera (Degree Project), which involves a combination of application development and some research work. Students submit a dissertation that they have to defend.
The Spanish official name for the degree is Ingeniero (Engineer) but it is also frequently mentioned as Ingeniero Superior (Higher Engineer) in order to distinguish it from the Ingeniero Técnico (Technical Engineer) degree, which is a three-year degree (involving also a Degree Project) roughly equivalent to a Bachelor of Engineering. A distinctive characteristic of Spanish engineering degrees is that the average duration of studies up to graduation is about 40% above the nominal duration and that the drop-out rate is considerable.
In Croatia, the old system included the engineer's degrees diplomirani inženjer (abbr. dipl.ing.) which was awarded by university faculties, and a lower ranked engineer's degrees inženjer (abbr. ing.) which was awarded by polytechnics, in a similar vein to the situation in the Netherlands. The old dipl.ing. degree could later be upgraded to a magistar (abbr. mr., Magister degree) and then a doktor (abbr. dr., Doctorate). The situation was the same in other countries previously part of Yugoslavia.