Engineering students could be adding another year to their studies to sit for the Civil Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam, based on new recommendations from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying.
The NCEES is a nonprofit organization consisting of all state engineering and surveying licensing boards. Its Board of Directors approved changes to the module law, along with modifications to the PE. These changes include new specifications such as content areas on construction engineering.
In addition to the bachelor of science degree already required of engineering students, the NCEES modifications recommend an additional 30 credits of acceptable upper level, undergraduate or graduate level course work.
“The purpose of these requirements is to encourage more engineers to pursue advanced study either by pursuing a masters or by taking individual courses after they graduate to extend their knowledge,” said David Johnston, chair of the Construction Engineering Education Committee and professor in civil, construction and environmental engineering.
According to Andrew Ritter, director of North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors, the purpose of the module law was for states nationwide to have the same requirements for engineers.
“The the purpose of all 50 states getting together was to sit down at the table and come up with laws that would be similar in every state,” Ritter said.
He said “module” was the key word, and that all the states are supposed to model their own engineering law after it.Since the NCEES passed these requirements, according to Johnston, it is now up to the state boards to decide whether or not to adopt that particular module rule and module law for themselves.
“Some states may do it right away, some states may take their time in doing it,” Johnston said. “Some states may choose not to do it.”
According to Ritter, now it’s up to the North Carolina Board to make a decision.
“Now it is incumbent upon the state to decide if we want North Carolina’s law to look like the module law,” Ritter said. “About 90 percent of North Carolina’s law follows the module law. Odds are, since we voted to change the module law, we will adopt it.”
Ritter said that if the module law changes, the earliest it could go into effect would be in 2015.
“You’re looking at an eight year effective date and the earliest it could get passed is next year, but I will say that getting it passed will not be easy because not everybody is for this thing,” he said.
According to Ritter, ABET, Inc., the organization that accredits NCSU’s engineering programming, does not want to vote for the change in the module law.
Sam Lee, a sophomore in civil engineering and Spanish, said it was the first he’d heard of the potential change in credit requirements.
“Adding 30 hours to the curriculum is a huge change,” Lee said. “However, I have a lot of respect for State’s [civil engineering] program, and I trust that the professors and deans who are involved with issue know what they’re doing.”
Ritter emphasized that engineers would not have to return to school for an additional 30 hours to comply with the new requirements once they are in effect.
“They will not have to go back; we would never make them go back and make up the additional hours,” Ritter said. “That’s where the eight year tunnel track comes from. It wouldn’t punish anyone.”
The PE Exam, which concentrates on engineering practice, is the second of the two exams that an engineer takes to become licensed as a professional engineer.
The Exam can be taken after an engineer has accumulated four years of progressive experience after completion of a bachelor’s degree.
The other exam, the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam, can first be taken by an engineer during their senior year. The FE Exam focuses on fundamentals and principles and is updated every five years.
The PE exam previously included the topic areas of depth modules: environmental, geotechnical, structural, transportation and water resources.
For the past five years, the Council has been researching the possibility of including the construction engineering depth module into the exam to satisfy the growing need to recognize construction engineering in the professional engineering licensure process.
“The construction engineering module provides additional flexibility for those individuals who have specialized in construction engineering,” Johnston said.
The addition to the civil engineering PE exam will not have an effect on any other exams or on the students who specialized in areas other than civil engineering.
Deputy Features Editor Laura White contributed to this story.
