"Ing.") in lieu of "Signore", "Signorina" or "Signora" (Mr, Miss and Mrs respectively) in the same manner as someone holding a doctorate would use the pre-nominal title "Doctor". North America Canada In Canada, engineering is a regulated profession whose practice and practitioners are licensed and governed by law. Licensed professional engineers are referred to as P.Eng. Many Canadian engineers wear an Iron Ring. In all Canadian provinces, the title "Professional Engineer" is protected by law and any non-licensed individual or company using the title is committing a legal offence and is subject to fines and restraining orders. Contrary to insistence from the Professional Engineers Ontario ("PEO") and Engineers Canada, use of the title "Engineer" itself has been found by Canadian law to be acceptable by those not holding P.Eng. titles. The title of engineer is not exclusive to P.Eng titles. The title of Engineer is commonly held by "Software Engineer", the Canadian Military as various ranks and positions, railway locomotive engineers, and Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AME), all of which do not commonly hold a P.Eng. designation. United States In the United States, the practice of professional engineering is highly regulated and the title "professional engineer" is legally protected, meaning that it is unlawful to use it to offer engineering services to the public unless permission, certification or other official endorsement is specifically granted by that state through a professional engineering license. Spanish-speaking countries Certain Spanish-speaking countries follow the Italian convention of engineers using the pre-nominal title, in this case "" (or "" if female). Like in Italy, it is usually abbreviated to "Ing." In Spain this practice is not followed. The engineering profession enjoys high prestige in Spain, ranking close to medical doctors, scientists and professors, and above judges, journalists or entrepreneurs, according to a 2014 study. Asia and Africa In the Indian subcontinent, Russia, Middle East, Africa, and China, engineering is one of the most sought after undergraduate courses, inviting thousands of applicants to show their ability in highly competitive entrance examinations. In Egypt, the educational system makes engineering the second-most-respected profession in the country (after medicine); engineering colleges at Egyptian universities requires extremely high marks on the General Certificate of Secondary Education ( al-Thānawiyyah al-`Āmmah)—on the order of 97 or 98%—and are thus considered (along with the colleges of medicine, natural science, and pharmacy) to be among the "pinnacle colleges" ( kullīyāt al-qimmah). In the Philippines and Filipino