2. What is a 'Professional Institute?'

A professional institute is an organisation set up to represent and promote the profession itself and the interest of its members in their specialist field of work. The institute is normally non-profit and funds itself by each member paying an annual fee.

There are professional bodies / organisations covering all kinds of professions. For example

• Institute of Engineering and Technology (Electrical \ Electronic Engineers etc)
• British Medical Association (Medical doctors)
• British Computing Society (Computer professionals)
• The Bar Council (Law professionals)

Some institutes have existed for a long time, for example the Institute of Engineering and Technology (The IET) was formed to represent the interests of electrical engineers 170 years ago (it was originally called the IEE, the institute of electrical engineering)

The typical structure of an institute is

• An elected executive board with a chairman or president.
• A number of committees to represent special interest groups
• A membership system
• A resource facility such as a library and other educational resources
• A communication method such as a monthly magazines and web site

Other professional institutions are relatively recent because their field of interest is itself new, for example the British Computer Society (BCS) was established in 1957 to support computing professionals.