Standards for Licensure—Professional Engineers

PURPOSE: This rule sets out standards for admission to engineering examinations. (1) An applicant for licensure as a professional engineer shall have the knowledge, skills, and experience as the board deems necessary to qualify the applicant for being placed in responsible charge of engineering work. The minimum length of experience required of the applicant, based on education, is three (3) years for any applicant holding a master’s degree in engineering or four (4) years after the applicant has satisfied the educational requirements of sections 327.221 and 327.241.6, RSMo. Any applicant who meets the educational requirements of sections 327.221, and 327.241.6, RSMo, qualifies for admission to the examination. The Engineers’ Council for Professional Development (ECPD) has been succeeded by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET). For purposes of evaluating engineering curricula at the baccalaureate level, the programs accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET shall be the basis used for evaluation of programs not accredited by EAC of ABET. (2) The board reserves the right to revoke this approval at any time and to prepare and administer the examination as it deems proper. (3) Foreign-educated applicants holding an engineering degree not accredited by ECPD, ABET, or its successor organizations will be required to submit a favorable evaluation report completed by an evaluation service acceptable by the professional engineering division of the board certifying equivalency to an ABET accredited degree. Applicants holding a United States of America (USA) engineering degree not accredited by ECPD, ABET, or its successor organizations will be required to have their educational degree program evaluated in order to determine whether or not it is equal to or exceeds the programs accredited by ECPD, ABET, or their successor organizations. The evaluation must be completed by an evaluation service acceptable by the professional engineering division of the board. The evaluator, by evaluation of transcripts and an official publication describing the engineering degree program of the institution, personal interview, by examination, or both in any other manner deemed suitable, shall make an evaluation as to whether the academic program completed by the applicant meets the minimum educational requirements established by section 327.221, RSMo. The evaluator shall recommend to the professional engineering division and report how any deficiencies can be corrected, listing prescribed educational areas to bring the applicant’s academic qualifications up to the required minimum. Deficiencies in engineering courses must be made up with courses offered by an EAC/ABET-accredited degree program or equivalent. The report of the evaluator is not binding upon the division. (4) An applicant who completes an engineering education program that is non-accredited and not deemed substantially equivalent and who then earns a graduate engineering degree from a United States school with an EAC/ABET-accredited undergraduate or graduate program in an equivalent discipline will be accepted for the licensure process. The graduate degree should be treated as confirming the undergraduate degree giving the applicant equal standing with an applicant who has graduated from an EAC/ABET undergraduate engineering program. The degree earned in the graduate program validates the degree earned in the non-accredited undergraduate program and would not then be applicable for experience credit. (5) A degree in engineering technology does not meet the educational requirements for licensure as a professional engineer. (6) Any applicant deemed by the professional engineering division under sections (3) or (4) of this rule to have completed an educational program which is equal to or exceeds those programs accredited by ECPD, ABET, or their successor organizations shall be required to have obtained the minimum engineering work experience as is required in section (1) of this PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS, PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYORS, COMMERCE AND INSURANCE AND PROFESSIONAL LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS rule before applying for licensure. In all cases, the board will consider only that experience the applicant has obtained after satisfying the educational requirements of sections 327.221 and 327.241, RSMo. (7) In evaluating the minimum engineering work experience required of all applicants, maximum credit granted includes the following: (A) Engineering teaching at collegiate level (only advanced engineering subjects or courses related to advanced engineering at board-approved schools), assistant professor and higher—year-for-year; (B) Master’s degree in engineering—one (1) year for completion; (C) Military service (commissioned only—normally this service is in a technical branch such as engineering, ordinance, civil work services (CWS), civil engineering corps (CEC), etc.): Generally year-for-year subject to evaluation; (D) Construction (technical decision-making level), above average complexity, nonstandard design, or both involving field modification—year-for-year; (E) Project planning including layout and twenty-five percent (25%) or more design—year-for-year; (F) Research and development at the planning and decisionmaking level—year-for-year; and (G) Engineering management and administration—year-foryear. (8) Individual evaluation may result in less than full credit. (9) Sections (1) through (8) shall not apply to any applicant for licensure by comity who received waiver of educational and examination requirements under 20 CSR 2030-4.070(4). AUTHORITY: sections 327.041 and 327.241, RSMo 2016, and section 327.221, RSMo Supp. 2020.* This rule originally filed as 4 CSR 305.080. Original rule filed March 16, 1970, effective April 16, 1970. Amended: Filed Sept. 13, 1977, effective March 11, 1978. Amended: Filed Dec. 8, 1981, effective March 11, 1982. Amended: Filed Sept. 13, 1983, effective Dec. 11, 1983. Amended: Filed Nov. 9, 1984, effective Feb. 11, 1985. Amended: Filed Sept. 12, 1985, effective Dec. 12, 1985. Amended: Filed Aug. 31, 1987, effective Nov. 23, 1987. Amended: Filed Feb. 15, 1989, effective May 11, 1989. Amended: Filed Oct. 3, 1995, effective April 30, 1996. Amended: Filed May 13, 2005, effective Nov. 30, 2005. Moved to 20 CSR 2030-5.080, effective Aug. 28, 2006. Amended: Filed Aug. 11, 2008, effective Feb. 28, 2009. Non-substantive change filed Oct. 21, 2015, published Dec. 31, 2015. Amended: Filed May 30, 2018, effective Dec. 30, 2018. Amended: Filed July 18, 2019, effective Jan. 30, 2020. Amended: Filed Oct. 6, 2020, effective April 30, 2021. *Original authority: 327.041, RSMo 1969, amended 1981, 1986, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2010, 2014; 327.221, RSMo 1969, amended 1981, 1983, 1999, 2014, 2018, 2020; and 327.241, RSMo 1969, amended 1977, 1981, 1983, 1999, 2014.