The certificate is granted to engineering technologists upon successful completion of a technical college and it is also granted by an international organization with headquarters in Germany, the "''BVT''", Federal Association of Higher Professions for Technology, Economy and Design (''Bundesverband höherer Berufe der Technik, Wirtschaft und Gestaltung e.V.'').
''Techniker'' certificates have been grouped on the same level as academic bachelor's degrees in national (DFQ) and EU[[European qualificationQualifications frameworksFramework]] (EFQ). Annex III to [[Directive 2005/36/EC]] is the list of regulated education and training referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 13(2).
Annex III to [[Directive 2005/36/EC]] is the list of regulated education and training referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 13(2). A member of the BVT is entitled to use the initials "BVT" after his name. To achieve this qualification, it is required to complete a 42-month apprenticeship program, a minimum 2,400 hour college diploma in engineering or technology, two years of relevant experience and pass the state examination. The academic requirement to be a state-certified engineer is a degree equivalent to ''level 6 on EQF = bachelor'' on the European Qualification Framework. A bachelor's (honours) degree in engineering or engineering technology from an accredited university is also equated to level 6 on EQF. A state-certified engineer is not required to complete a university degree. Before Jan. 31, 2012, a state-certified engineer certificate usually qualified the holder to proceed to bachelor's level education at a university of applied science. In the past, this led to wide and controversial discussions between bachelor's and master's degrees engineers and state-certified engineers.
Today, this is on the same level as a bachelor's degree. One can continue to study to a master's degree with the SCE qualification. The academic requirements for qualification are similar to incorporated engineer qualification/registration by EC UK. State-certified engineers now assist engineers with only a diploma or master's degree. They are also holding full engineering positions as systems engineers, integration engineers, test engineers, QA engineers, etc.
