TECHNICAL PAPERS
Jul 1, 2007

Certification and Accreditation in Civil Engineering

Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 133, Issue 3

Abstract

Certification has been common for technicians for many years but specialty certification is rapidly becoming important to engineering practitioners in addition to or as a substitute for licensure in some fields. Certification and accreditation are closely related but there are also important differences. International standards now exist for accreditation of certification programs and could provide the basis for mutual recognition of specialty certification worldwide. ASCE should seek international accreditation of its specialty certification programs and play an appropriate role in defining international standards related to specialty certification and assessment of conformity to those standards.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

References

Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA). (2005). “Certification.” http://www.awma.org/education/training.asp (October).
American Academy of Environmental Engineers. (2005). “Who is the Academy.” http://www.aaee.net/newlook/brief%20history.htm (October).
American Concrete Institute (ACI). (2005). “ACI strength technician certification program: Concrete strength testing technician.” http://www.concrete.org/certification/Cert_pgminfo.asp?pgm=Concrete+Strength+Testing+Technician#requirements (May).
American National Standards Institute (ANSI). (2005). “FAQs for product certification.” http://www.ansi.org/conformity_assessment/accreditation_programs/faq.aspx?menuid =4 (October).
American Society for Non Destructive Testing (ASNDT). (2000). “NDT personnel certification satisfies both the new pressure equipment directive (PED) and ASME boiler and pressure vessel code.” http://www.asnt.org/latestnews/rwtuv.htm (October 2005).
ASCE. (2001). “Quality management systems standards ASCE Policy Statement 431.” http://www.asce.org/pressroom/news/policy_details.cfm?hdlid=90 (July 2005).
ASCE. (2004a). “Academic prerequisites for licensure and professional practice ASCE Policy Statement 465.” http://www.asce.org/pressroom/news/policy_details.cfm?hdlid=15 (October 2005).
ASCE. (2004b). “Civil engineering body of knowledge for the 21st century.” http://www.asce.org/files/pdf/bok/bok_complete.pdf (October, 2005).
ASCE. (2005a). “Certification.” http://www.asce.org/professional/certification/ (October).
ASCE. (2005b). “International codes and standards, ASCE policy statement 365.” http://www.asce.org/pressroom/news/policy_details.cfm?hdlid=88 (July).
ASME. (2005). “New! Engineering management certification international EMCI.” http://www.asme.org/youngengineers/ (July).
Bernard, R. (2003). “Cooperation between higher engineering education and industry and society” The ENQHEEI European Network, ISO Bulletin, July, 35–36, http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/commcentre/isobulletin/articles/2003/pdf/enqheei 03-07.pdf (October 2005).
Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards (CESB). (1999). “Guidelines for engineering and related specialty certification programs.” http://www.cesb.org/ (September 2005).
Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). (2001). “Glossary of key terms in quality assurance and accreditation.” http://www.chea.org/international/inter_glossary01.html (October 2005).
European Commission (EC). (2004). “Common European principles for validation non-formal and informal learning.” http://ecotec.com/europeaninventory2004/publications/EC_common_principles_validation_20040303.pdf (May 2005).
Higher Learning Commission (HLC). (2004). “Best practices for electronically offered degree and certificate programs.” http://www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org/resources/electronic_degrees/Best_Pract_ DEd.pdf (May 2005).
IEEE. (2004a). “2004 guide to the software body of knowledge (SWEBOK).” http/www.swebok.org/ (July 2005).
IEEE Computer Society (IEEE). (2004b). “Certification road map: The journey and the destination.” http://www.computer.org/certification/cert_for_you.htm (June 2005).
Institute of Professional Environmental Practice (IPEP). (2005). “Mission statement.” http://www.ipep.org/flash/home.html (October).
International Accreditation Forum (IAF). (2005). “IAF—Certified once, accepted everywhere.” http://www.iaf.nu/ (July).
International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET). (2005). “IACET’s criteria and guidelines.” http://www.iacet.org/standards/intro_CG.htm (April 2006).
ISO. (2004). “ISO/IEC 17011:2004 conformity assessment—General requirements for accreditation bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies.” http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER =29332 (October 2005).
ISO. (2005). “How conformity assessment works.” http://www.iso.org/iso/en/comms-markets/conformity/iso+conformity-02.html#P47_110377 (October).
McConnell, S., and Tripp, L. L. (1999). “Professional certification fact or fiction.” http://www.computer.org/certification/FactorFiction.htm (October 2005).
Murphy, R. V. (2004). “NDT certification—Global harmonization.” http://www.ndt.net/article/wcndt2004/pdf/certification_training/805_murphy.pdf (October, 2005).
National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). (2004). “Standards for the accreditation of certification programs.” http://www.noca.org/ncca/docs/STANDARDS904.pdf (October 2005).
National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). (2003). “Licensing board survey.” http://www.ncees.org/licensure/licensing_requirements/#fe .
National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA). (2005). “NOCA and the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.” http://www.noca.org/ncca/ncca.htm (October).
National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). (2005). “Becoming licensed as a professional engineer.” http://www.nspe.org/lcl-how.aspr (October).
Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). (2005). “Why certification?.” http://www.sme.org/cgi-bin/certhtml.pl?/cert/certification.html&&&SME& (October).
Texas Board of Professional Engineers. (2005). “Certification of engineer in training (EIT).” http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/lic_eit_exinfo.htm (October).
U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). (2005). “Title 34 Part 602 the secretary’s recognition of accrediting agencies.” http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidxu_04/34cfr602_04.html (October).
U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO). (1999). “Certification requirements: New guidance should encourage transparency in agency decision making.” http://www.cpc-online.net/Accomplishments/GAO-GGD-99-170.pdf (October 2005).
Vlǎsceanu, L., Grünberg, L., and Pârlea, D. (2004). “Quality assessment and accreditation: A glossary of basic terms and definitions.” http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/02-UNESCO-CEPES/04_UNESCO_CEPES_Glossary.pdf (October 2005).
Washington Accord. (2004). “A multinational agreement signed in 1989.” http://www.washingtonaccord.org (October 2005).
Wisely, W. H., ed. (2002). The American civil engineer 1852–2002: History, traditions, and development of the American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE, Reston, Va.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 133Issue 3July 2007
Pages: 181 - 187

History

Received: Nov 2, 2005
Accepted: Mar 21, 2006
Published online: Jul 1, 2007
Published in print: Jul 2007

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Authors

Affiliations

William E. Kelly, F.ASCE
P.E.
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, The Catholic Univ. of America, Washington, DC 20064. E-mail: [email protected]

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Download citation

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

Cited by

View Options

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Copy the content Link

Share with email

Email a colleague

Share