Action | Develop regulations for a mandatory continuing education requirement for architect, professional engineer, and land surveyor licenses. |
Stage | Proposed |
Comment Period | Ended on 5/2/2008 |
Continuing education is not the root cause of poor engineering today. Continuing education is a nice idea, but I strongly doubt it will achieve the desired objective, i.e., improve the engineer's value to society. If enacted, I see this as a ticket punching exercise. Engineers will find courses to take just to get their license renewed. This bureaucracy will create a tax on the engineers that will most likely be absorbed by the engineer's company and passed on the client. If we really want to protect the profession and improve the engineer's value to society, we need to be critically evaluated by our clients and peers on a periodic basis. Those who aren't performing to the standards (ethics, technical, professional) as evaluated and validated by one's peers and clients should not have the privilege of PE next to their name. Implement a program that requires peer and client reviews on a periodic basis as a prerequisite to license renewal and we'll develop a stronger profession.