The Formal Training Scheme to Associate Membership is considered by the HKIE as an important stage in the development of a person in achieving the goal of becoming a technologist.

The training period is a time of transition from an academic environment to that of real life in industry. It is a time when the trainees, by gaining practical 'on-the-job' experience, can reinforce and gain a thorough appreciation of the fundamental principles they learned in their academic studies.

To achieve this aim of integrating 'theory' with 'practice', the training scheme is designed to offer trainees learning opportunities by providing them with relevant practical experiences. The emphasis throughout the training being that the trainees should learn-by-doing, by their being personally involved in 'real life' activities and their learning being largely self-motivated.

The training scheme is intended to be cohesive and success in the constituent parts of the training scheme is a necessary requirement for Associate Membership. These 'linked' parts cover such matters as technical competence, management skills, leadership skills, an awareness of matters and role of the technologist in society. It is the achievement of the required standard in all of these inter-related parts that determines a trainee's suitability to become a technologist.

It is in the matter of standards and achieving a degree of uniformity within the profession as a whole as well as within each discipline that the objective approach can be effectively used.