NCEES Removes Masters or Equivalent Requirement from Model Law

NCEES Removes Masters or Equivalent Requirement from Model Law NCEES Removes Masters or Equivalent Requirement from Model Law NCEES Removes Masters or Equivalent Requirement from Model LawDuring the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) annual meeting last month, attended by 375 delegates from the U.S. licensing and surveying boards that comprise the Council, the masters degree or its equivalent (MOE) requirement was removed from the Councils Model Law. Photo courtesy of NCEES.Last month, representatives from the U.S. licensing and surveying boards that comprise the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) voted to strike proposed changes to its Model Law and Model Rules that would establish a masters degree or its equivalent (MOE) as the educational requirement for engineering licensure. ASME fully supports the Councils decision to remove the MOE requirement from the Model Law and maintain the current criteria, which require a bachelors degree from an EAC/ABET-accredited program for licensure.The vote to eliminate the MOE requirement, which would have gone into effect in 2020, took place at the NCEES annual meeting in Seattle. The vote included the condition that meeting delegates would draft an official NCEES position statement advocating additional engineering education beyond a bachelors degree. The Council originally voted in 2006 to add the MOE provision to its Model Law and Model Rules, which serve as the Councils best-practice models for state licensure laws and rules. Since then, NCEES annual meeting delegates made several modifications to its language in an effort to fine-tune and clarify the requirement.The NCEES decision is encouraging news for ASME, which has contested the MOE requirement since it was introduced eight years ago. The ASME Board of Governors issued a position statement opposing the MOE proposal in April 2008. Later that year, ASME established the Licensing That Works coalition of engineering societies, which endorsed the position statement. The coalition, which is led by ASME, encompasses 13 professional engineering organizations representing 300,000 engineers. Former ASME Senior Vice President Robert Luna is chair of the coalition, which is staffed by David Soukup, managing director, Governance.One reason the delegates voted to remove the MOE provision was that it was creating uncertainty for students entering engineering school and for engineers trying to speculate what future engineering licensing requirements might entail, according to Jerry Carter, executive officer for NCEES. Because the language had been incorporated into the NCEES Model Law and Model Rules but had not yet been adopted by any individual licensing board, it was causing confusion among students, educators, and professional engineers, he said.In addition, NCEES members were concerned about the requirements impact on the NCEES Records program, which is used by professional engineers th roughout the United States to initiate comity licensure - the process by which a professional engineer licensed in one state gets licensed in another.This has been a long crusade which ASME Presidents Sam Zamrik, Tom Barlow, Amos Holt, Bob Simmons, Vickie Rockwell, Marc Goldsmith, and Madiha Kotb have all taken a key interest in, said current ASME President J. Robert Sims, who has participated in the past two NCEES annual meetings. The change occurred during my watch, but it could not have happened without the involvement of these ASME leaders and the support of Bob Luna and Dave Soukup, who have worked diligently on behalf of the Society on this issue.ASME Past President Vickie Rockwell, the current chair of the American Association of Engineering Societies, added, This statement removes many unintended barriers among the professional engineering societies that prevented us from working together and developing consistent messages.Licensing That Works Chair Bob Luna was also satisf ied with the Councils decision. The Licensing That Works team is pleased with the outcome of the vote, he said. We look forward to providing input to the NCEES Advisory Committee on an appropriate level of additional education for initial engineering licensure.The Advisory Committee will present the position statement to the Council for adoption at the 2015 NCEES annual meeting.To learn mora about the Licensing That Works coalition, visit www.licensingthatworks.org.