FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

A. An engineering Qualifications Recognition model (eQRm)-type program provides a means for international engineering graduates to achieve recognition of academic qualification for licensure as a professional engineer in one of Canada’s provinces or territories. Such programs generally consist of a period of study at a Canadian university offering an eQRm-type program, followed by a work term. Programs of this type typically include one or more courses designed specifically to assist IEGs in understanding and integrating successfully into the Canadian engineering workplace, and may include English as a Second Language (ESL) support to help participants improve their communications skills. The eQRm process, through its requirement for participants to demonstrate academic capability alongside Canadian students and in on-the-job Canadian work experience, preserves the high standards for competency in a truly integrated fashion, and strives to promote a collaborative approach between government, academia, regulating bodies, and the immigrant community.

A. No. An eQRm-type program is one route to licensure in jurisdictions where such a program exists. Provincial / territorial regulators provide additional routes to licensure both in jurisdictions where eQRm-type programs exist, and where they don’t.

A. An international engineering graduate must meet specific criteria in order to participate. Typically, successful applicants are those who: hold, at minimum, an earned undergraduate engineering degree from outside of Canada; often have extensive engineering work experience from outside of Canada; have recently immigrated to Canada; and wish to continue their engineering career and pursue professional licensure. In addition, they must have applied to their provincial or territorial regulator for recognition of their academic qualifications. The regulator then decides how many confirmatory exams may be required for the applicant to demonstrate his or her mastery of required subject matter. Applicants may also be required to demonstrate a minimum level of English-language proficiency.

A. Yes. There is an agreement, known as the Washington Accord which: “recognizes the substantial equivalency of programs accredited by those bodies and recommends that graduates of programs accredited by any of the signatory bodies be recognized by the other bodies as having met the academic requirements for entry to the practice of engineering”.

Signatory countries include Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), United Kingdom, and the United States. It must be understood that only specific engineering programs in these countries that are accredited by the country’s engineering signatory agency are recognized in this way. A list of the programs is maintained by the agency in each country and can be accessed through links on the following website: www.ieagreements.org. In Canada, Engineers Canada (through the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board) is the signatory agency.

The second type of engineering qualifications recognition for international engineering graduates in Canada is developed by the provincial and territorial regulators. More information on these processes can be found by visiting the regulators’ websites.

A. Yes. Participants in eQRm-type programs register in a course of study, usually at a university, and pay the tuition fees that would normally apply.

A. Engineers Canada played an important role in developing the engineering Qualifications Recognition model (eQRm) as part of its From Consideration to Integration (FC2I) initiative, but does not play a direct role in establishing individual programs. That is up to partnering organizations in each jurisdiction.

A. In the eQRm concept, new programs are created by means of collaboration among an engineering degree granting institution, the provincial or territorial engineering regulator, industry and a funding agent. Other organizations, such as immigrant support agencies, may also be part of the partnership.