Professional Licensure among Civil Engineering Faculty and Related Educational Requirements

Abstract

Engineering education is an important part of the professional socialization process, communicating to students the importance (or lack thereof) of professional registration and licensure. This research benchmarked 74 US civil engineering (CE) departments in the extent to which the faculty members were licensed as professional engineers, and whether program objectives mention professional licensure or registration. The percentage of licensed professional engineers among the CE faculty ranged from 12% to 100% with a median of 54%. PE licensure of CE faculty was lower at Doctoral institutions (44%) compared to Bachelor’s and Master’s institutions (67% and 66%); at institutions with fewer faculty a higher percentage were licensed. Geotechnically specialized faculty had the greatest licensure rate among subdisciplines. Professional engineering licensure was less common in mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering. The CE program objectives of 62% of the programs included professional licensure or registration, and 19% of the CE programs required that undergraduate students take the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam. The results raise concerns about the extent that engineering students are being socialized to value professional licensure and registration.