NOT FAVORABLE ECEI EVALUATION - WHATS NEXT 3

[Karabas]

I'm a foreign graduate in Civil Engineering and I'm trying to register for the FE Exam in MO. The ECEI evaluation of my degree came out not favorable with conclusion for deficiencies in areas of mathematics, basic sciences and engineering design. Both MO board and ECEI told me I need to go to an ABET accredited Engineering Program to determine what courses exactly I need to take to compensate for these deficiencies. Today I went to one of the two Universities in town that have accredited programs and they had no idea how to address the issue.
Has anybody been in this situation and how you dealt with it? Any idea who is supposed to determine in what disciplines the deficiencies are?
Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ron]

You need clarification from the MO board and ECEI as to whether you need to take "make-up" courses or if you need to get a degree from the ABET accredited program.

If your degree shows deficiencies in mathmatics, basic sciences, and engineering design, it is likely that you cannot put together a series of courses that will adequately and cohesively address their concerns. It is likely that your easier route would be to discuss with a counselor/student advisor at the university, the credit transfer of your previous coursework into an accredited engineering program and then completing the degree through that program.

 

[BobPE]

Karabas:

I have had friends approach this problem by going to an engineering University that they would want to attend and submitting an application along with all the support info in order to request a transfer into the engineering program.

Upon receiving a transfer request, the schools program instructors evaluate your transcripts and will tell you what coursework you will need in order to satisfy their requirements. Not all schools are the same and some of my friends shopped around until they found a program that maxamizeded their investment. Ron's advise to use a counslor at the schoold will work too, but they may not be able to give you the official requirements until you put everything into a formal application.

Let us know how you make out....


BobPE

Prepare yourself to revisit your education, and keep a positive attitude, as you already know, it is well worth the investment.

 

[MintJulep]

Something here doesn't make sense to me.

The board's finding of deficincies implies that they have some magic minimum standard check-list against which your education and experience was compared.

Thus they should be able to provide you with a listing of the specific items they found lacking. It should then be a simple exercise for a university to say this and this are covered in this course, this is covered in this course....

Making you guess what they found lacking, attempting to fill in the blanks and then reapply (with associated fees) is rediculous.

 

[Karabas]

Thanks for your input guys. I'll see how to approach this. Today I contacted ECEI with request for clarification - per their evaluation I have deficiency in Engineering Design disciplines by 6 credit hours (I have 9 and the required is 16), but on the other hand I have 47.5 credits more for Engineering Sciences (I have 79.5 and the required id 32). And under Enginnering Sciences you could find listed disciplines like Tunels, Reinforced Concrete Bridges, Steel Bridges, Road Design, Construction of roads, Urban Planning etc. - pure Engineering design disciplines I had projects done on for a semester or two. But let's not waste your time, it's between me, ECEI and the accredited Universities here . Thanks for your time guys.

 

[y2kg]

to karabas:
i graduated from the philippines with a BSCE and has submitted my form to ecei just wanted to know what are the sample subjects that are considered Engineering Design disciplines.

 

[FEI2004]

I've gratuated Mechanical Faculty in Romania and I've sent my originals to ECEI more than a year ago and i haven't received any evaluation back. i am concerned that my originals are there and they probably lost them. Any of you have this type of experience with ECEI? How long it takes for an evaluation?
Can somebody help me? Please...I don't know what to do.

 

[jakin]

Karabas, you are not alone in this situation. In fact, there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of foreign-trained engineers in the US with this predicament. The problem is usually with humanities and liberal arts requirements. This situation is usually not "news" because each person whom the state licensing authority declares to have inadequate education typically quietly "licks his wounds" and heads off to the nearest community college to take additional humanities and liberal arts classes to get over the hurdle. However, if it is true that you are INDEED deficient in design requirements, then your degree may really have problems.

ECEI is part of ABET and the reviewers will use only material that is known to ABET. Most times, the problem is not in the adequacy of the training but in the interpretation by US evaluators of what was learned in the foreign university. Unfortunately, most foreign universities don't do a good job of explaining their course contents in a way that would make US evaluation easier. That is probably why the contents, as listed by your university, did not adequately indicate that your courses on "tunnels, reinforced concrete bridges, steel bridges, road design, construction of roads, urban planning", etc. could indeed have qualified as design courses. My suggestion is that you find an established professor in a reputable US university, who is familiar with your university's civil engineering program, and who can vouch for the integrity of the contents of your design courses, to analyze what you have. Request that (s)he sends to ECEI an objective evaluation of your courses. If a good case is made, the evaluators are generally open to learn what they don't already know and can make revisions in their initial evaluations.

I suggest you read the following paper titled, "Need to Understand Foreign Education in Evaluating for P.E. Licensure" in the ASCE Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, January 1996, pp. 26-30, as well as the discussion on this in the April 1997 issue, p. 91.

 

[jakin]

y2kg, I suggest you visit the ECEI or ABET websites (

http://www.ecei.org;

http://www.abet.org)

for information about what ECEI considers design courses. Alternatively, simply check from the brochures of one or two US universities.

FEI2004, and anyone else with foreign transcripts: Before you mail your records to ECEI or any other evaluating agencies, I suggest you first read through the brochures containing course descriptions of at least two or three ABET-accredited universities in the US. See how the wordings and other description compare with what you have from your university. Your confidential transcripts typically only lists the course titles and your grades. If the course title from your university does not clearly indicate what you did, send ECEI a copy of the actual course description. This would help the evaluators understand better. Note that ECEI cannot have a dossier on every discipline in every engineering program in every university in the world. Yours might be the first they'd see from your country. If you sense a lack of clarity in your course contents, seek the help of an established US professor to evaluate your course contents. Send all of these to ECEI at the same time as you send your transcripts. You would have saved the evaluators the time and effort of seeking information from your university. If you haven't heard from ECEI for a year, maybe you need to follow the advice I've just given and then send them supplementary material. Good luck.