Professional Engineers Ontario Licence Requirements For An Engineer

If you are dreaming of an engineering license from Professional Engineers Ontario, then reading this blog is a must for you. Here, we will tell you about the requirement for a PEO engineering licence.

To become a licensed engineer, you need to fulfill the following requirements: 

1. You must be 18.
2. Your character must be good.
3. Passing the National Professional Practice Exam (NPPE) is a must for you.
4. Meeting the academic requirements is a must for you.
5. You have to fulfill the experience requirements.

Let’s know about the last three ones in detail one by one:

Professional Engineers Ontario academic requirements (general): 

To fulfill Engineers Ontario’s academic requirements for licence, you need to have a bachelor’s degree. This degree must have accreditation from the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) or equivalent academic qualifications. In case the program is without accreditation, PEO will evaluate the academic background to decide whether it is equivalent to the academic qualification in the engineering discipline.

Keep in mind: 

 There are zero graduate degree engineering programs with accreditation from the CEAB at present.

Professional Engineers Ontario’s NPPE (National Professional Practice Exam): 

The NPPE is a 5/2 hour, closed-book, online exam on ethics, professional practice, engineering law and professional responsibility. A capable candidate may write this exam at any time. It means (within the time limit by PEO) as the candidate attains 48 months of engineering work experience necessary for licensure.

To lessen the time to licensure, an applicant is encouraged to write the NPPE early in the time limit of PEO.

The NPPE takes place 5 times a year (January, February, April, June, August/September and November). You can write the exam via remote proctoring, which means you will write the exam from your home.

Special accommodations are available for those candidates who have shown a requirement. For this, one has to contact the PEO Exam Centre for information regarding making special accommodation requests.

The Exam Centre will send the candidate a registration notice to let them know when they can write the exam.

The NPPE confirms knowledge of ethics, law and professionalism. 12 geoscience and engineering self-regulatory organizations in Canada currently utilize the NPPE. The NPPE sticks to all related criteria. They are in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing for assurance that the program is valid, trustworthy and fair.

Writing NPPE: 

NPPE has 110 multiple-choice questions that are on six subject areas. These are based on information in the textbooks and other resources. You get 5/2 hours to complete this exam. Although the NPPE has specialized vocabulary and terms, you can’t use this it as a test of English language proficiency. It also undergoes regular verification. It goes through verification (using standard readability measures) to function at a readability stage of nearly grade 10.

Three steps for NPPE: 

1. First, complete a PEO licence application. When PEO gets your complete licence application with the appropriate payment, you will get a PEO file number.
2. After that, wait. Two months before the date of the next available NPPE, PEO’s Exam Centre will send every eligible applicant a registered mail. This mail will have information on how to register to write the exam.
3. The final step is that an eligible NPPE applicant wishing to write the exam at the next available sitting has to register and submit payment. They have to do it as per the instruction in the registration mail. If not receiving your registration mail nearly two months before sitting in question, then contact the Exam Centre.

Engineering work experience: 

As per Ontario law, you need to have four years of engineering work experience to obtain a professional engineering licence. At least one year of your experience must be in a Canadian jurisdiction. It ensures that you have enough exposure to Canadian engineering legislation, codes, technical standards and regulations.

Professional Engineers Ontario assesses each candidate’s engineering experience against the given quality-based criteria:

1. Practical experience
2. Application Theory
3. Engineering Management
4. Knowing the social implications of engineering.
5. Communication skills.

For licence, a candidate has to show at least 48 months of acceptable, verifiable engineering experience. They have earned this experience after completing their undergraduate engineering degree.