internationally educated graduates

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academic requirements

• The Canadian Engineering Accreditation System

• United States ABET Degrees

• Mutual Recognition Agreements

• Confirmatory Examinations

• Waiving Confirmatory Examinations

• Member-in-Training

• Examination Candidates

• Provisional Licensee
  

The Canadian Engineering Accreditation System

In Canada, the Canadian engineering education system is carefully monitored to ensure that Canadian undergraduate engineering programs meet the academic requirements necessary for the practice of the profession of engineering. The Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) carefully and rigorously reviews undergraduate engineering programs in Canada. As part of this review process the CEAB sends visiting teams to Canadian engineering university to thoroughly review every engineering program in depth. If the program meets the high standards that have been set for accreditation, the program becomes CEAB accredited. For you to become licensed as a Professional Engineer or Foreign Licensee, your academic background must be equivalent to a CEAB accredited degree in engineering.

United States ABET Degrees

If you have an ABET accredited undergraduate engineering degree, APEGA will assign you the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination. However, the FE exam may be waived if:

-You are licensed as a Professional Engineer (P.E.) with one of the US engineering state licensing boards,

-You have a post-graduate engineering degree such as a Masters or PhD from an accredited Canadian, ABET, or mutual recognition agreement university if that post-graduate degree contains sufficient technical engineering content, or

-You have at least eight years of acceptable high-level engineering experience showing increasing technical competency and increasing levels of responsibility

Mutual Recognition Agreements

There are some countries in the world that have developed engineering education accreditation systems similar, but not identical, to the Canadian accreditation system. APEGA has ratified mutual recognition agreements with a number of countries:

• United Kingdom (1989)

• Ireland (1989)

• Australia (1989)

• New Zealand (1989)

• Hong Kong (1995)

• South Africa (1999)

• France

• Japan (2005)

• Singapore (2006)

• South Korea (2007)

• Taiwan (2007)

• Malaysia (2009)

If you have an undergraduate degree in engineering from one of these countries after the dates shown and if your degree is listed on the list of approved programs from that country, you will likely not be assigned any technical engineering exams by APEGA.

Confirmatory Examinations

As part of APEGA’s core responsibility to protect the public, APEGA has the responsibility and obligation to ensure that all individuals have the required skills and education to practice engineering in Alberta before they are licensed. Because it is not possible to send visiting teams to every engineering university in the world to determine whether those programs meet the standards that have been set for Canadian accreditation, APEGA may assign a confirmatory examination assessment to individuals with undergraduate degrees in engineering that are not CEAB accredited and that are not on the list of mutual recognition agreement approved programs.

It is called a confirmatory examination assessment because if you pass the examinations you are confirming to APEGA that the quality and level of your academic training is at the level required to practice engineering in Alberta.

Most of the applications APEGA receives from internationally educated graduates come from individuals with engineering degrees listed on the Engineers Canada List of international engineering degrees (the List).

If your degree is on the List, APEGA will start with a standard confirmatory assessment of the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or in some cases three technical examinations. However, this confirmatory examination assessment is often waived.

Please see Waiving Confirmatory Examinations below for more information.

Some of the applications APEGA receives from internationally educated graduates come from individuals with engineering degrees not listed on the Engineers Canada List of international engineering degrees.

If your engineering degree is not on the List, APEGA will start with a standard confirmatory assessment of the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or in some cases five technical examinations. However, this confirmatory examination assessment is often waived.

Please see Waiving Confirmatory Examinations below for more information.

If APEGA determines that your academic background is not equivalent to a Canadian undergraduate degree in engineering and does not cover the breadth of academic training found in Canadian undergraduate programs, you might be assigned a large number of examinations (up to 24) to make up the deficiencies.

For internationally educated graduates in geology and geophysics similar considerations apply.

For more information, please contact the APEGA Registration Department.

Waiving Confirmatory Examinations

If you are assigned a confirmatory examination assessment, APEGA may waive those examinations on two bases:

• An acceptable post-graduate degree

• Acceptable work experience
  

Acceptable Post-Graduate Degree

APEGA may waive your confirmatory examination assessment if:

• You have a Masters or PhD degree from an accredited Canadian engineering university or from an ABET or mutual recognition agreement listed university; and

• The Masters or PhD degree contains sufficient engineering design and analysis content acceptable to the APEGA Board of Examiners.

If you have a Masters or PhD degree that is not from a CEAB, ABET or mutual recognition agreement listed institution, APEGA may, in exceptional cases, waive your confirmatory examination assessment.

For internationally educated graduates in geology or geophysics, similar considerations apply.

For further information please contact the APEGA Registration Department.

Acceptable Work Experience

If your undergraduate engineering degree is found on the List and you are assigned the FE EXAM or 3 confirmatory examinations, APEGA may waive your confirmatory examination assessment if:

• You have at least 10 years of acceptable, high-level engineering or geoscience experience showing increasing technical competency and increasing levels of responsibility; and

• You provide APEGA with references with first-hand knowledge of your work experience covering this ten or more year period.

If your undergraduate engineering degree is not found on the List and you are assigned the FE Exam or 5 confirmatory examinations, APEGA may waive your confirmatory examination assessment if:

• You have at least 12 years of acceptable, high-level engineering or geoscience experience showing increasing technical competency and increasing levels of responsibility; and

• You provide APEGA with references with first-hand knowledge of your work experience covering this twelve or more year period.

For further information please contact the APEGA Registration Department.

Member-in-Training

A Member-in-Training is either an Engineer-in-Training (E.I.T.) or a Geoscientist-in-Training (G.I.T.).

There are two requirements that you must meet to become enrolled as a Member-in-Training with APEGA:

• Academic Requirements

• Good Character and reputation.

Examination Candidates

If you have been assigned a confirmatory examination assessment and that assessment has not been waived, you have not yet satisfied the academic requirements and therefore are not eligible to become enrolled as a Member in Training, Professional Member, or Foreign Licensee. In such case you will be enrolled as an examination candidate with APEGA and will be required to complete the required examinations.

For more information, please contact the APEGA registration department.

Provisional Licensee

If you meet all the requirements for licensure as a Professional Member or Foreign Licensee except the one year equivalent Canadian experience requirement you can be enrolled as Provisional Licensee.

For more information, please contact the APEGA registration department.