The University of British Columbia

The Geological Engineering Program at UBC is officially "accredited" by the Association, so that all BASc graduates are eligible to apply for registration as Professional Engineers or 'P Eng' in training (EIT). The accreditation process involves a thorough evaluation of the Program, including on-site visits, and is conducted at regular intervals (the most recent evaluation was completed in late 2005). Registration as P Eng has a long-established history in BC and Canada. Some Geological Engineering students take additional Science courses which enable them to qualify for a dual registration, as P.Eng. and as P.Geo.

Graduating students from the Faculty of Science can apply for registration as a Professional Geoscientist or 'PGeo' in training or as a Registered Professional Biologist (RPBio).

Compared to registering as a professional engineer, registration procedures for PGeo or RPBio are relatively new. The rules and regulations have only recently been formalized and may be subject to further refinement. Also in contrast to P Eng, there is no official accreditation of the programs at various institutions. Instead, the governing associations provide lists of courses (the 'syllabus') that represent the minimum requirements for eligibility for registration. Undergraduate and graduate students may join the APEGBC or CAB as student members or members in training before they meet all of the requirements for professional registration. According to the guidelines, the net effect to students from UBC is that they will need to include certain elective courses in their Program to ensure that they will be eligible to for registration as PGeo or RPBio. There are four 'options' for PGeo registration (Geology, Geochemistry, Geophysics, and Environmental Geoscience) under which an applicant can be considered, each with a different list of required subjects.

You may have heard somewhere that Majors graduates cannot qualify for Professional Registration, but this is NOT correct. You simply have to ensure you have chosen a suitable set of courses.

For specific registration requirements, consult the APEGBC syllabus (for P.Geo.) or the College of Applied Biology website at www.cab-bc.org (for RPBio).