Engineers Australia assesses CDR applications using documentary evidence that you have (1) core technical engineering knowledge for your nominated occupation and (2) evidence you’ve applied that knowledge in engineering work.
A compliant CDR is not a generic project report. It’s a structured set of documents that lets the assessor confirm competency through clear engineering narratives and accurate cross-referencing. The Migration Skills Assessment (MSA) booklet explains that the report section includes CPD, three Career Episodes, and a Summary Statement.
If you prepare these sections correctly—first-person writing, paragraph numbering, and clean mapping—you reduce avoidable compliance problems like weak evidence, broken references, or missing required formats.
This guide explains what Engineers Australia expects, how each component works, and the common mistakes that lead to weak outcomes.
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What is a CDR and why is it required?
A Competency Demonstration Report (CDR) is the document set used when you apply through the CDR pathway for Engineers Australia’s Migration Skills Assessment.
Engineers Australia requires the CDR because it’s how you demonstrate—through your own evidence and writing—that you meet competency expectations for your nominated category. The MSA booklet states applicants must provide documentary evidence of both the knowledge base and the applied engineering work in the nominated occupation.
Your CDR is assessed against graduate competency standards and the ANZSCO definition of your nominated occupational category.
That’s why your writing must show technical depth + personal accountability, not just a broad “project overview”.
Complete CDR package overview (what you must submit)
CPD list
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) shows how you kept up-to-date with developments in your engineering field after your undergraduate qualification.
MSA format rules (CPD):
- Must be in table format with title, date, duration, venue, organiser.
- Must be no more than one A4 page.
- Certificates are not necessary.
Practical tip: Keep CPD entries specific (e.g., “AutoCAD MEP short course,” “IEC standard update workshop,” “Technical webinar: HVAC load calculations”) so the assessor can see relevance quickly.
Example CPD table (MSA-style):
| Title | Date | Duration | Venue | Organiser |
| Short course: ___ | DD/MM/YYYY | __ hours | ___ | ___ |
| Seminar: ___ | DD/MM/YYYY | __ hours | ___ | ___ |
Three Career Episodes
Each Career Episode is a narrative about a specific period or distinct aspect of your engineering activity, and each episode should be different from the others.
Key compliance rules
- Write in first person: “I did…” not “we…”.
- Use essay format (not a table).
- Use paragraph numbering (e.g., 1.1 / 2.1 / 3.1) so mapping is possible.
- Recommended length: 1000–2500 words per episode.
- Include reliable and sufficient engineering evidence (e.g., diagrams, calculations, tables)—but don’t dump textbook content.
Engineers Australia also confirms Career Episodes can be based on education projects, work projects, a specific position, or a particular engineering problem you solved.
Required structure (MSA word guidance)
The MSA booklet recommends the following structure and word ranges:
- Introduction (~150 words)
- Background (200–500 words)
- Personal Engineering Activity (600–1500 words)
- Summary (50–150 words)
What “Personal Engineering Activity” should contain: your tasks, your decisions, how you applied engineering knowledge, difficulties you solved, and your contribution—not the team’s achievements.
Summary Statement
The Summary Statement is where you cross-reference competency elements to the exact paragraph numbers in your Career Episodes where the evidence appears.
Rules:
- Use the correct template for your nominated category (Professional Engineer / Engineering Technologist / Engineering Associate / Engineering Manager).
- Do not restrict it to one page.
- Only one Summary Statement is required for all three episodes.
Simple mapping example (how it should look):
- Competency element: ___
- Brief summary: “I designed ___ by calculating ___ and validating ___”
- Paragraph reference: CE1.12, CE2.7, CE3.4 (whatever matches your actual evidence)
Common mistakes that lead to weak CDRs
These are the avoidable issues that most often weaken applications:
- Writing team achievements instead of your personal engineering activity.
- Missing paragraph numbers, which makes mapping impossible.
- Too much theory and not enough project-specific engineering evidence (what you did, why you chose a method, what you calculated/checked/changed).
- Summary Statement references that don’t match real evidence paragraphs.
- CPD not in the required table format or exceeding one page.
How to prepare your CDR (step-by-step)
- Select three distinct episodes (different projects/aspects/time periods).
- Draft each episode using the required structure and word guidance.
- Write in first person and make your role unmissable.
- Number every paragraph consistently (CE1: 1.1, 1.2… / CE2: 2.1, 2.2…).
- Build the Summary Statement by mapping each competency element to paragraph numbers.
- Format CPD as a one-page table (title, date, duration, venue, organiser).