Improved Public Interest

Background

• Following the spring 2015 consultations, APEGA Council endorsed proposed recommendations to change the Professional Licensee (P.L.) designation. The endorsed changes were:
  • eliminate the existing P.L. designation and have all individuals without engineering or geoscience degrees apply for the P.Tech. designation to be administered by ASET and regulated by joint APEGA-ASET statutory boards
  • create a Limited Licence designation of APEGA membership that would be available only to individuals with engineering or geoscience degrees who do not immediately qualify for P.Eng. or P.Geo. designations but who may otherwise be qualified to practise engineering or geoscience within a limited scope of practice
  • call the new APEGA designation a Professional Limited Licensee (P.L.L.) to recognize both the professional aspect and the limited scope aspect (this was in response to Member feedback in spring 2015).
• The proposed change in the 2015 submission no longer allowed highly qualified and experienced technologists to become registered as a P.L.L. or obtain scopes of practice beyond the P.Tech. scope of practice.
• ASET has requested that APEGA revisit this and that APEGA continue to allow highly qualified and experienced technologists to become registered as P.L.L.s and to obtain limited scopes of practice involving complex problem solving using complex methodologies.
• APEGA Council committed to work towards developing a revised model to accommodate ASET’s request and address the gap.
• At the January 23, 2017 Council meeting, Council endorsed the guiding principles of a revised model that would enable Professional Technologists to become licensed as Professional Limited Licensees with APEGA.

Why is this important?

• It provides two paths to the new P.L.L. designation:
  1. for individuals with degrees in engineering or geoscience who do not immediately qualify for P.Eng. or P.Geo. (as previously endorsed by Council)
  2. for individuals without engineering or geoscience degrees who will need to apply to ASET and become registered as P.Techs first.
• Option 2 provides a means for highly qualified and experienced professional technologists to obtain the new APEGA Professional Limited Licensee designation.

Proposed legislative change

• It is recommended that the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act General Regulation be amended as follows:
  • individuals with engineering or geoscience degrees will be eligible to apply directly to APEGA for registration as a Professional Limited Licensee (as previously endorsed by Council)
  • individuals without engineering or geoscience degrees will need to apply to ASET and become registered as a Professional Technologist before being eligible to apply to APEGA for registration as a Professional Limited Licensee.

Effects of the change

Proposed Future Pathway to Professional Limited License