Engineer boards dial back push for master’s degree at entry
The U.S. Engineering and surveying licensing boards that make up NCEES (National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying), voted to modify language of “confusion” concerning additional educational requirements for prospective engineers, which was intended to be effective beginning in 2020. The vote took place August 20-23 of 2014 in Seattle, Washington.
Requirements called for an engineering licensure candidate to obtain a Master’s degree or equivalent to be eligible for licensure, but the NCEES has modified the requirement to “supporting additional education for initial engineering licensure.”
“NCEES remains committed to improving education to better prepare engineers to enter the profession,” NCEES CEO Jerry Carter stated, “NCEES voted to remove these requirements to avoid confusion and unintended comity licensure barriers while it works on the specifics of the requirement.”
The decision means that in 2020 the NCEES Model Law and Model Rules will continue requiring an engineering bachelor’s degree from an EAC/ABET-accredited program to meet the education requirement to be eligible for engineering licensure.
Another issue was the effect of the now-defunct educational requirement on the Records program. Since in 2020, the Model Law Engineer and Model Law Structural Engineer would have required a master’s degree or the equivalent, language needed to be changed to avoid a “slow down” of the licensure process.
“For those who meet the Model Law Engineer or Model Law Structural Engineer standard, many states expedite a comity licensure application. In 2020, the MLE and MLSE standards would have required a master’s degree or the equivalent, ” said Carter. “If no state requires a master’s, most licensees would no longer meet the MLE and MLSE standards, which would have slowed comity licensure. NCEES is dedicated to facilitating licensure among states, so it wants to avoid this impediment.”
