Credentials Evaluations policy amended to expand service

The NCEES board of directors recently approved an amendment to the policy that governs the NCEES Engineering Standard to expand access to its credentials evaluations service.

NCEES uses this standard to evaluate educational credentials of engineering licensure candidates with degrees from the following:

  • Engineering programs outside the United States
  • U.S.-based programs in engineering, engineering technology, related science, or mathematics that are not accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, when coupled with a master’s degree or doctorate from a program that is EAC/ABET-accredited at the undergraduate or graduate level

Candidates in the above categories are typically referred to NCEES Credentials Evaluations by a state licensing board where they are applying for licensure. Licensing boards use these evaluations to decide whether candidates meet the educational requirements for licensure as a professional engineer in their particular state.

State boards have a range of educational scenarios they are willing to consider, but not without a credentials evaluation. Although rare, it is an issue that has come up several times since NCEES began using the standard in January 2012.

“Without an evaluation, a state board may be unable to accept the education, and the applicant couldn’t be considered for licensure,” explained Stef Goodenow, manager of NCEES Credentials Evaluations. “We wanted to amend our policy to address this.”

Therefore, at its February 2012 meeting, the NCEES board of directors voted to amend the Credentials Evaluations policy to include a provision to allow state boards to determine if they would like to see the individual’s education compared to the engineering education standard.

“Adding this extra option will allow NCEES to better meet the specific needs of its individual member boards,” said NCEES Executive Director Jerry Carter.

Requesting an evaluation

To request an evaluation that falls outside the scope of the standard, a member board must send a written request to Stef Goodenow ([email protected]).