Continuing Professional Development
Our mandatory Continuing Professional Development Program is the keystone in demonstrating an APEGA commitment to maintaining member competency. Professional Practice has been able to increase CPD compliance—and reinforce the importance of doing and recording ongoing learning as a critical component of self-regulation and professional due diligence.
Examinations APEGA delivers about 7,000 exams a year to applicants and professional members, most of them online. Exams are used to assess and confirm the knowledge and education of applicants, and sometimes to provide a first step for members towards licensure in the U.S. APEGA is a national leader in the development and continuous improvement of the National Professional Practice Examination (NPPE), which is used by 11 other engineering and geoscience self-regulating organizations in Canada. It confirms knowledge of areas such as professionalism, law, regulations, and ethics, and all APEGA applicants must pass it in order to obtain their professional license. In 2018 a great deal of work was undertaken by the APEGA Examinations team to improve and enhance the NPPE program. We successfully implemented a new syllabus (exam blueprint) for the NPPE. The new exam syllabus improves the exam’s organization of content, while providing added detail and clarity to applicants preparing for the exam. Additionally, in partnership with the University of Alberta, we conducted original research in the area of Canadian work experience and how the NPPE relates to Canadian culture. Our findings were well received when we presented them at the 2018 Canadian Network of Agencies for Regulation Conference. This research could lead to improvements in the way Canadian regulators approach exams for both newcomers and all applicants. We successfully implemented two important policies related to the number of attempts and time allowed for applicants to pass the NPPE. These improvements enhance application processing and provide further security of exam content.
A C A N A D I A N L E A D E R I N T H E C O N T I N O U S I M P R O V E M E N T O F T H E N A T I O N A L P R O F E S S I O N A L P R A C T I C E E X A M
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