SARTOR stands for "Standards and Routes to Registration" and is a system operated by a number of professional engineering bodies to provide a structured path to "Chartered Engineer" status. People who have passed the requirements of SARTOR can display the letters CEng (for Chartered Engineer) after their name, rather than the MEng (Master of Engineering) or BEng (Bachelor of Engineering) that a degree entitles them to.
SARTOR is mainly concerned with recording continuous professional development. The Engineering Council defines Continuous Professional Development (CPD) as
"The systematic maintenance, improvement and broadening of knowledge and skill, and the development of personal qualities necessary for the execution of professional duties throughout working life.
SARTOR imposes a system whereby the candidate has an experienced
mentor who can protect the candidate's development interests in the workplace. The candidate has regular meetings with the mentor, at which a plan for the next few months is presented, and a record of the last few months is discussed.
Candidates are additionally required to have two periods of secondment to other engineering companies, and to demonstrate commitment to the profession.
After all the requirements are met, the candidate presents evidence of his or her experience and all the accumulated paperwork (probably several volumes by now) to their engineering body, and an interview is conducted with them. A decision to award Chartered status is made by the interviewers. The whole process is expected to take about 4 years.
SARTOR is a common standard that is used by the IEE (the Institution of Electrical Engineers), the IMechE (the Institution of Mechanical Engineers), and the IIE (the Institution of Industrial Engineers), all of which are based in the UK.