It has come to our attention that AB 69, which the committee has scheduled for executive action today, will eliminate an important pathway to becoming a professional engineer that has always been available to Wisconsin Technical College graduates. Currently, WTCS graduates are eligible to sit for the PE examination after fulfilling the 8-to-12 requisite years of successful professional experience. AB 69 would eliminate this by requiring a bachelor’s degree as a condition of becoming a PE.
- This will constrain the ability of Wisconsin citizens to become a PE at a time when we need more, not fewer, such professionals.
- It appears that many states (perhaps more than 25) continue to allow individuals with associate degrees and excellent professional experience to sit for the PE exam and be registered as a PE without earning a bachelor’s degree.
- We are not aware of any evidence that WTCS graduates are any more likely than any other PE to be disciplined or have issues with professional competency.
- Wisconsin and the world are moving away from fixed bachelor’s degree credentials and toward a competency-based experiential world. Longtime Wisconsin law allowing WTCS graduates to become PE’s supports this; AB 69 threatens this.
- There may be ways to amend the bill to preserve opportunities for WTCS graduates while addressing other issues the bill is intended to address.
- Preserving current options is also crucial given that transfer from WTCS engineering programs to UW bachelor’s degree programs remains very challenging (despite the fact that transfer is quite fluid and seamless from the WTCS to engineering programs at independent/private programs such as Marquette and MSOE).
We apologize for the short notice of these concerns. The WTCS was unaware of AB 69 or its impact until very recently.
On behalf of Wisconsin’s technical college district boards statewide, thank you.
Paul Gabriel
Executive Director
Wisconsin Technical College District Boards Association
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