Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Continuing Education Requirements
Table of Contents
General Information
O.C.G.A. 43-15-6(b) and Board Rule 180-11 are the definitive documents which govern what registrants must do to meet annual renewal requirements. These instructions are intended to give a more complete understanding of the intent of the rules.
The primary purpose of licensing for professional engineers and land surveyors is to protect the public from unqualified or unethical practitioners. The requirement for continuing professional competency (CPC) is also intended to protect the public by reinforcing the need for lifelong learning to stay current with changing technology, equipment, procedures, processes, and established standards.
Registrants are encouraged to select meaningful CPC activities which will be of benefit in the pursuit of their chosen fields. The definition of Course/Activity is: “Any qualifying course or activity with a clear purpose and objective which will maintain, improve, or expand skills and knowledge relevant to the registrant’s field of practice.”
Exemptions
- New registrants are exempt from their first renewal period only.
- Those in foreign employment or a non-career military registrant serving on active duty for over 120 consecutive days may be exempted upon board approval. Supporting documentation will be required.
- Those who have experienced serious illness or injury of a nature and duration which has prohibited completing CPC requirements during the two years prior to the renewal period, may be exempted. Supporting documentation will be required.
- Those who qualify for “inactive” status. Inactive status means that the registrant is over 65 years of age and is totally separated from the profession of engineering and/or land surveying in Georgia and all other states; the words engineer, engineering, land surveyor or land surveying do not appear in the registrant’s work title; the registrant is not employed with a company or organization which performs or offers to perform engineering or land surveying services or a company or organization which uses engineering or land surveying in the company title; and the registrant, as an individual, is not performing or offering to perform engineering or land surveying services or making engineering or land surveying decisions.
- Those who are 65 years of age or older who also have 25 or more years of active registration. Supporting documentation to prove age will be required.
Activities for Earning PDH Credits
General Requirements
All activities for which PDH credit are claimed must be relevant to the practice of engineering or land surveying within the registrant’s field of practice and may include technical, ethical, or managerial content. These activities should advance the professional or technical competence of the registrant.
Qualifying CPC activities may be sponsored or presented by college or universities, by employers, by government agencies, by nationally affiliated engineering or land surveying technical or professional societies, or by other organizations. The American Society of Engineering Education, a nonprofit organization committed to continuing engineering education, has an online resource that may help you locate continuing education courses across many engineering disciplines. You may find links here to online courses, video courses, evening courses, or weekend courses offered by U.S. engineering schools and professional societies.
The board does not pre-approve courses for PDH credit. It is your responsibility to assure that the activities in which you participate meet the requirements.
Land surveyors must ensure that, once every two (2) years, at least three (3) PDH’s in “Minimum Technical Standards” be included in their PDH’s acquired. (See additional information below).
Typical Qualifying Activities
Qualifying activities to meet Georgia’s CPC requirement may be earned in any state. A PDH credit is roughly equivalent to one clock hour of instruction and should be rounded to the nearest half hour.
Completing or attending qualifying courses, seminars, instruction, in-house programs, or training; attending technical or professional society meetings when an engineering/land surveying topic is presented as a principal part of the program and covers topics within your area of practice; teaching a course for the first time or if substantial time has been spent in updating material if previously taught; attending satellite video courses where attendance is verified and program material meets the requirements; and language courses or software instructional courses which relate to the improvement of one’s business or profession.
Typical Non-Qualifying Activities
Regular employment; courses in real estate licensing; personal estate and financial planning; courses in self-study or personal self-improvement; service club meetings or activities; equipment demonstrations or trade shows; topics not relevant to engineering or land surveying; enrollment without attendance in courses or seminars, etc.; and repetitive teaching of the same course without updating the course material; attending committee and business meetings of any organization; conversational language courses for personal use.
Engineering related activities will not qualify as meeting the requirements of land surveying; and land surveying related activities will not qualify as meeting the requirements for engineering.
PDH Credits Carried Forward
If more than 15 PDH credits are earned in an annual period for professional engineers, or 7.5 PDH credits earned for land surveyors, then a maximum of 7.5 PDH’s may be carried forward into the next annual period for professional engineers and 3.75 PDH’s for land surveyors.
Credits Disallowed Upon Board Audit
A registrant will not be renewed unless he/she certifies on the application renewal form that the requirements for PDH units have been met. If the board determines that some credits are unacceptable, the registrant will have 180 days to obtain PDH units that are acceptable. If the registrant, after 180 days, has not obtained the requisite PDH’s, the license will be revoked until such time as the units are obtained.
Form – Record Keeping – Documentation
You should maintain a summary log to list your PDH activities and limit your page size to 8 1/2″ x 11″ – Be sure your registration number is clearly shown.
It is important that sufficient name and/or description be given to identify that the activity relates to engineering/land surveying as appropriate, including the presenter’s name. The name of the sponsoring organization must be provided as well as the time and location of where the instruction or class was held. For classes that are part of a college curriculum, please list the class number. PDH’s earned for professional engineering or land surveying credit should be appropriately identified.
All records of attendance and completion of PDH credits should be maintained for four years for audit purposes.
3 PDHs in Minimum Technical Standards are required for Land Surveyors every 2 years:
The continuing education requirement in Board Rule 180-11-.03 is intended to be comprehensive as to the rules and laws pertaining to the professional practice of Land Surveying in Georgia. As such, the following content is required, per Board Policy 15-1 (.pdf) adopted 1/31/2015.