Re: NCEES calculator update -- 2007 Message #13 Posted by Norris on 22 Nov 2006, 4:50 p.m., in response to message #11 by Happy HP User
Quote: In September, the NCEES royalty issued another edict: if you want your PE, you have to accumulate another 30 credit hours in your field. That's basically a master's. Better get at it before they change it to a PhD...
This is misleading. NCEES has no power to issue "edicts" on PE education requirements; only state legislatures and state engineering boards can do that. NCEES does make recommendations, which are presented in the NCEES "Model Law" for engineering licensure. However, the NCEES "Model Law" is only a guideline: individual states can adopt it or ignore it, as they see fit.
NCEES recently changed the "Model Law" to require an MS degree (or equivalent) for licensure. But this decision will have no real-world impact, unless the states agree to follow this model, and amend their laws and regulations accordingly. The states could do this with or without NCEES.
Will they? Well, note that the previous version of the NCEES "Model Law" called for an ABET-accredited engineering BS degree as a prerequisite for licensure. Yet many (most?) states have never adopted this proposed rule; it is still possible to get a PE license without an engineering degree in many jurisdictions (e.g. California). Since many states haven't even adopted the NCEES recommendations on the BS degree, it seems unlikely that they will rush to adopt the NCEES recommendations on the MS degree.
Quote: The NCEES is a law unto itself, with no apparent check or balance from anywhere.
NCEES does have the power to issue "edicts" on exam calculators, because they prepare and publish the exams. Any state that wants to use NCEES exams -- and every state does use at least some of them -- is required to enforce the NCEES calculator policy on those exams.
Note, however, that states are free to develop their own licensing exams, and to establish alternative calculator policies in such cases. For example, California uses state-specific PE exams in Civil, Structural, Geotechnical, and Traffic Engineering, and they continue to allow HP48s and other graphing calculators on those exams. California only enforces the NCEES calculator policies on NCEES exams.
Edited: 22 Nov 2006, 7:11 p.m.
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