Canadian Council of Professional Engineers

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The Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE), operating with the business name of Engineers Canada, is the national organization of the 12 provincial and territorial associations that regulate the practice of engineering in Canada. CCPE serves these associations, which are its sole members, by delivering national programs for standards of engineering education, professional qualifications and professional practice.

In addition to being the voice of its constituent members in national and international affairs, CCPE coordinates the development of national policies, positions and guidelines on behalf of the engineering profession. It also promotes greater understanding of the nature, role and contribution of professional engineers and engineering to society, and undertakes federal government relations and national media relations on behalf of, and in consultation with, the provincial and territorial associations.

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[edit] Governance

The CCPE is governed by a board of directors. Each provincial and territorial association has one or more seats on the board on a representation by population basis. All board members are volunteers. The work of the board is supported by CCPE's paid staff.

[edit] Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board

Through the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB), CCPE accredits Canadian undergraduate engineering programs that meet the profession's education standards. Graduates of those programs are deemed by the profession to have the required academic qualifications to be licensed as professional engineers in Canada.

CEAB is also involved in assessing the equivalency of the accreditation systems used in other nations relative to the Canadian system, and monitoring the accreditation systems employed by the engineering bodies which have entered into mutual recognition agreements with CCPE.

[edit] International activities

The international activities CCPE committees, volunteers and staff undertake are overseen and coordinated by the CCPE International Committee. This committee is also responsible for keeping CCPE's Board of Directors abreast of new opportunities to maintain or enhance international mobility for Canadian engineers, and for monitoring CCPE's existing mutual recognition agreements on the full or partial recognition of engineering qualifications. Acceptance of the qualifications of foreign trained engineers has in recent years required some prodding by the Canadian Government-

"As we bring people here to our shores, and then deny them the opportunity to exercise their skills because of unfair obstacles. We said that we would deal with that, . . .”

Prime Minister Martin, Nov 13, 2004, Penticton

Despite being a signatory of the Washington Accord graduates of US engineering programs (MIT, Caltech, etc) are not given accreditation when they arrive in Canada. Instead of offering accreditation based on the corresponding ABET accreditation of their degree, an "assessment" is done to determine if the curriculum was equivalent to that offered by a Canadian university. [1] The result of this assessment is the requirement that additional courses be taken by the applicant before accreditation is considered. It is much easier for Canadian trained engineers to receive accreditation in the US because ABET lists CCPE accredited degree programs on their website along with ABET accredited US degrees. [2]

CCPE negotiates international agreements on behalf of its constituent members, primarily at the educational level through CEAB, to facilitate increased international mobility for Canadian engineers. The agreements also make it easier for CCPE's constituent members to evaluate the academic qualifications of international engineering graduates applying for engineering licensure in Canada.

[edit] Research

CCPE's research activities are overseen and coordinated by its Research Committee. The Committee supports CCPE's efforts to monitor the pulse of the engineering profession in Canada, from coordinating its ongoing research on the nature of engineering work in Canada, to monitoring trends in engineering student enrolment for its annual membership surveys. It is also responsible for coordinating CCPE's national survey of the engineering profession, as well as for monitoring emerging areas of engineering practice.

[edit] Membership

[edit] External links

Provincial and territorial associations: