Professional titles are used to signify a person's
professional
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...
role or to designate membership in a professional society. Professional titles in the anglophone world are usually used as a
suffix following the person's name, such as ''John Smith,
Esq.
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman a ...
'', and are thus termed
post-nominal letters. However, many European countries use
prenominal letters
Pre-nominal letters are a title which is placed ''before'' the name of a person as distinct from a post-nominal letters, post-nominal title which is placed ''after'' the name. Examples of pre-nominal titles, for instance professional titles inclu ...
such as
Eur Ing. In the UK, many professional titles are 'chartered' such as
Chartered Engineer
Regulation and licensure in engineering is established by various jurisdictions of the world to encourage life, public welfare, safety, well-being, then environment and other interests of the general public and to define the licensure process thr ...
or
Chartered Physicist
Chartered Physicist (CPhys) is a chartered status and a professional qualification awarded by the Institute of Physics. It is denoted by the postnominals "CPhys".
Description
Achieving chartered status in any profession denotes to the wider co ...
.
Other professional Engineer in the UK is the Incorporated Engineer.
Under the
European professional qualification directives
The main European legal instruments covering the mutual recognition of professional qualificationsis: Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications. The directive covers the European Economic Area and has been amended sev ...
, holders of professional titles in one member state are entitled to recognition of their title in all other member states.
Once a person achieves professional certification in a given area of study, they have undergone examination by some form of
governing body
A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...
or
professional association
A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to advocacy, further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that professio ...
that is willing to assure the candidates competence in the given field of knowledge. In most cases, a
certificate is issued for a set duration of time, at which the candidate must recertify with the same governing body.
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Titles
Vocational education
Qualifications
Professionalism