Frequently Asked Questions

• 1. Who does the new Continuing Education (CE) requirements apply to? Are all registrants required to complete activities?

  The full program requirements apply to any registrant with full practice rights; in general, this means P.Eng., P.Geo., P.L.Eng., and P.L.Geo.

  Registrants with a Non-practising or Retired designation have reduced requirements and must complete a minimum of one CE Hour each of ethical and regulatory learning every three years and record these in their online reporting system. Non-practising and Retired registrants are still required to submit a CE Program declaration every reporting year.

  Trainees (EITs and GITs) are exempt.

• 2. What are the CE requirements for registrants?

  Every 3-year rolling period, registrants have to complete at least 60 total CE Hours. Registrants who hold a designated structural engineer (Struct.Eng.) designation must complete an additional 60 CE Hours of Technical Learning over a Three-year Rolling Period for a total of 120 CE Hours.

  Every reporting year (July 1–June 30), registrants need to complete the following:

  • Complete at least one CE Hour in ethical learning; how this is done is up to each registrant but could be completed by watching an Engineers and Geoscientists BC webinar, taking an ethics course offered by their employer, studying past disciplinary decisions, etc. Other suggested activities can be found in the Guide.
  • Complete at least one CE Hour in regulatory learning by watching the annual Regulatory Learning Module offered by Engineers and Geoscientists BC. There will be a new module each year available on July 1; registrants have the full reporting year to watch it and record their viewing in the online reporting system.
  • Complete and upload a CE Plan at least once during the reporting year. An Engineers and Geoscientists BC CE Plan template is available, or another template can be used as long as it meets the requirements laid out in Section 3.3.1 of the Guide, including completing a risk-assessment.
  • We encourage registrants to try to report 20 CE Hours on average every year to ensure that they don’t fall behind on their three-year total CE Hour requirement and risk penalties.
• 3. What counts as a CE Hour or CE eligible activity?

  The program is based around CE Hours, with a CE Hour defined as “one hour of learning that contributes to a registrant’s maintenance of competency in their Area of Practice”. This means that only activities that are relevant to a registrant’s area of practice and help maintain competency should be recorded. In practice this can encompass a wide variety of activities including seminars, webinars, conferences, self-study of journals, self-study to learn a new skill, volunteering, and presentations, as long as they are relevant. A helpful test might be for a registrant to ask themselves “If I’m selected for a compliance audit, can I justify how this activity helps maintain my competency and is relevant to my area of practice?” The definition in the Guideline also notes studying for future changes in an area of practice, so learning new skills and areas are considered relevant.

• 4. What are the ethical learning requirements?

  Registrants must complete at least 1 CE Hour in ethical learning; how this is done is up to each registrant but could be completed by watching an Engineers and Geoscientists BC webinar, taking an ethics course offered by their employer, studying past disciplinary decisions, etc. Other suggested activities can be found in the Guide. 

• 5. What are the requirements of a CE Plan? Do CE activities listed on the CE Plan need to match those actually completed?

  Practising registrants must create and maintain a CE Plan on an annual basis that notes the registrant’s area of practice, risks of their practice, learning goals, and activities to help meet those goals.  

  Activities listed on the CE Plan do not need to match those actually completed.  The intent of the CE Plan is to think critically about upcoming CE activities, but due to a variety of reasons (e.g., cost, availability, change in job role) the activities listed on the CE Plan may not actually match those completed. A typical CE cycle would include completing the CE Plan, trying to undertake CE activities in line with your Plan throughout the year, then reviewing what was completed and what was not to inform next year’s CE Plan.

• 6. How do registrants report their CE activities and upload their CE Plan? Do hours transfer to the new system automatically?

  Registrants must use the CE Program reporting system to keep a record of CE Hours and activities completed and upload their CE Plan annually. CE documentation will be evaluated in detail during audits, practice reviews, and investigations to determine compliance’ see Section 3.4.3 of the Guide for more information about documentation. Registrants can download a report of their records from the previous Professional Development Recording Centre; however, they will no longer be able to enter new activities into that system.

• 7. Do my hours from before 2021 count toward my CE Program hours?

  No. You can keep them for your records but any hours from before 2021 will not be reviewed for audit purposes. Activities taken between January 1 and July 1 of 2021 can be applied toward the first reporting year of the new program

• 8. If I am already completing a CE program for another province, do I still have to report my CE Hours in BC?

  Yes, all registrants must complete the CE program requirements, including reporting eligible CE Hours and activities, even if they are completing a CE program elsewhere. The CE Program has some unique elements that are not captured in other provincial programs, so simply reporting compliance in another jurisdiction is not enough to meet the requirements. However, activities undertaken for other jurisdictions do qualify for CE Hours provided they are relevant to your area(s) of practice.

• 9. How are registrants expected to evaluate their practice risks as part of the CE Plan? What is the CE Plan’s Practice Risk Assessment Tool?

  As part of the CE Plan submission, registrants are required to assess the risks of their practice to the public and/or the environment. The suggested way to do this is to use the practice risk assessment tool included in the Engineers and Geoscientists BC CE Plan template. If Registrants have another risk assessment method that is more applicable to their sector and/or area(s) of practice, they may use that method but must describe the method in their CE Plan.

  The practice risk assessment tool asks registrants a series of questions about their practice, particularly about factors that affect the likelihood and consequences of failure. Completing the risk assessment gives registrants a risk rating that can be used to help registrants think about the current risk of their practice and how changes in their practice and continuing education can affect that risk.

• 10. What happens if registrants don’t meet some or all of the CE requirements by June 30?

  Registrants have an additional 3-month late period within which to complete their requirements and are subject to late completion fees. If they do not complete the requirements by the end of the late period on September 30, their registration is suspended and are no longer a registrant in good standing. Suspended registrants have until December 31 to complete the requirements; if they do not, their registration is cancelled on January 1.