Working with other professional organizations and groups allows for new ideas and a wider scope. NCEES focused on engaging with emerging leaders from the engineering and surveying professions and collaborating with professional organizations domestically and internationally.
Working with other professional organizations helps NCEES advance licensure for engineer and surveyors now and in the future. The decline in the number of examinees taking the FS and PS exams prompted NCEES to bring together 18 surveying-related organizations for a Future of Surveying Forum. The group met in January and June 2016 to identify reasons for the downward trend in examinee numbers and strategies to strengthen the future of the surveying profession. The group identified three focus areas to reverse the trend: national brand and image, educating and education, and recruiting and mentoring.
Learning from future leaders
NCEES formed a new group to connect young engineers and surveyors with NCEES decision makers to provide feedback on the licensure process and discuss topics relevant to the future of the engineering and surveying professions.
The 12-member Emerging Engineers and Surveyors Group included students, engineer and surveyor interns, and professional engineers and surveyors under the age of 35. After participating in a focus group at the 2015 annual meeting, the group received its charges from President Conzett. During the year, the group reviewed the current licensure process to identify impediments faced by applicants and to provide recommendations for systemic changes to improve the process. It identified the best marketing communications tactics for promoting the value of licensure for students, interns, and professionals. It also recruited peers to participate in a survey to provide base data on why individuals enter engineering and surveying programs and why or why not these individuals pursue licensure.
Building relationships across national borders
In 2015–16, NCEES engaged with other international organizations to promote cross-border mobility.
NCEES continued its work with the International Engineering Alliance (IEA), an umbrella organization that coordinates six international agreements for engineering education and mobility. NCEES represents the United States in two of these agreements: the International Professional Engineers Agreement (IPEA) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
NCEES Past President Patty Mamola, P.E., served the final year of her two-year term as deputy chair of APEC. In September 2015, she and CEO Jerry Carter attended an APEC meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, to develop a plan of action for a central databank for registered APEC engineers to assist in international mobility. Past President Mamola also served on an APEC subcommittee to develop a plan for the registry.
Past President Mamola, President Michael Conzett, P.E.; and President-Elect Daniel Turner, Ph.D., P.E., P.L.S., attended the annual IEA meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in June 2016. NCEES joined representatives from 26 other countries at the meeting to discuss various issues related to international mobility.
Foreign exam administration
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NCEES currently has agreements with 15 foreign entities to administer its licensing exams in those countries. In 2015, NCEES began offering the FE exam in three new Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.
In 2016, it began offering the FE exam through the Egyptian Engineering Syndicate. NCEES has offered the exam in Egypt since 2009 to seniors and graduates of engineering programs at the American University in Cairo that are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, but the new agreement opened access to graduates of Egypt-based engineering programs that are not accredited by EAC/ABET to assist in assessing the quality of engineering education in that country.
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