New Law Gives Co-ops An Edge in Engineer Licensing

A new state law revising the licensing requirements for professional engineers means good news for cooperative education students at the University of Cincinnati and across the state of Ohio. The law, signed by Gov. Bob Taft on May 7, takes effect Aug. 7.

HB 337 changes the experience requirements to become a Professional Engineer or Professional Surveyor to allow up to two years of experience to be counted prior to college graduation. Current law gives credit for engineering experience gained only after college graduation, which penalizes co-op and nontraditional students who alternate college studies with work experience.

"This is very good news for co-op," says Associate Provost Kettil Cedercreutz, director of the University of Cincinnati's Division of Professional Practice, the unit responsible for offering co-op. UC founded the world's first co-op program in 1906. The new law "offers a significant competitive advantage for graduates of engineering and engineering technology programs based on solid cooperative education. It means they will be able to get professional licensing faster," Cedercreutz says.

According to Mark T. Jones, executive director of State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors, the registration board requested the changes for two reasons. "First, because the board believes strongly in co-op education, and secondly we believe that engineering experience gained before graduation but after the sophomore year is very valuable experience, blending theory and practice."

Under the new law, grads of UC's College of Engineering need a total of four years experience to obtain a professional engineering license. Co-op is mandatory at UC's College of Engineering, so professional registration could happen as early as two-and-a-half years after graduation, Cedercreutz says. The new law equally reduces the lead time for licensing of College of Applied Science Engineering Technology co-op graduates from eight years to six-and-a-half years. The differences in professional experience requirements for the two stem from program accreditation criteria. Programs at the College of Engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (EAC/ABET). The Engineering Technology program is accredited by the Technology Accreditation Commission, also with ABET (TAC/ABET).