National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying

Overview

The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) is the institution that decides who gets to call themselves a Professional Engineer in the United States — it develops and scores the FE and PE exams for engineers and the FS and PS exams for surveyors. Founded in 1920 in Chicago by 7 of the 10 state licensing boards then in existence, its original purpose was portability: making it possible for an engineer licensed in one state to practice in another (NCEES). Its members are not individuals but the licensing boards themselves — 70 of them, covering every state, D.C., and four territories. And it was the licensing boards’ representative at the creation of the accreditation system: in 1932 it was one of the seven societies that founded the Engineers’ Council for Professional Development, now ABET (ABET).

The mobility project: from 7 boards to 70

American engineering licensure began piecemeal: California passed the first surveying law in 1891, Wyoming the first engineering law in 1907, and each state then wrote its own rules and its own exams. The 1920 Chicago meeting created the Council of State Boards of Engineering Examiners to fix the resulting patchwork — “to improve uniformity and promote mobility.” The milestones trace a century-long convergence:

Year	Milestone
1891 / 1907	First surveying (CA) and engineering (WY) licensure laws
1920	7 of 10 boards found the Council in Chicago
1932	Model Law for Registration approved; National Bureau of Engineering Registration created
1950	Every state plus AK, HI, DC, and PR has engineering licensure laws
1965 / 1966	First FE exam, then first PE exam
1984	All member boards use the uniform national exams
2014	FE/FS go computer-based (PE/PS follow)
2024	Mutual recognition agreement with the U.K. Engineering Council

The 1984 milestone is the quiet triumph: 64 years after founding, every board was finally giving the same exams. The 2024 U.K. agreement extends the original 1920 idea — license portability — across the Atlantic.

The Council’s model is the “three-legged stool” of licensure: education, experience, and examination. ABET accreditation covers the first leg — which is why NCEES sat at the 1932 ECPD founding table alongside the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers (now AIME), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education (now the American Society for Engineering Education). The accreditors define what counts as an engineering education; the examiners test whether it stuck.

The exams

Engineers typically pass two NCEES exams on the path to licensure: the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE), taken near graduation — a six-hour exam whose passing the University of Washington’s civil engineering department calls “the first step to becoming a professionally licensed engineer,” with work experience and a second exam to follow (UW) — and the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE), taken after years of supervised experience. Surveyors follow the parallel FS/PS track (Minnesota State). NCEES also runs a Records program (since 1979) that banks verified credentials for engineers seeking licensure in multiple states — the administrative machinery of the mobility idea — and since 2006 has offered credentials evaluations for candidates with degrees from outside the U.S. or from domestic non-ABET programs. Its exams are now given internationally, from Japan and South Korea to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan.

Timeline

• 1891 — California passes the first surveying licensure law.
• 1907 — Wyoming passes the first engineering licensure law.
• 1920 — 7 of 10 boards found the Council in Chicago.
• 1932 — Model Law approved; co-founds the ECPD (now ABET).
• 1965 — First FE exam.
• 1966 — First PE exam.
• 1984 — Uniform national exams everywhere.
• 1989 — Current name adopted.
• 2024 — U.K. mutual recognition agreement.

Frequently asked questions

What does NCEES do? It advances engineering and surveying licensure in the U.S.: it develops and scores the FE, PE, FS, and PS exams, maintains the Records program for multi-state licensure, and works for uniformity and mobility among the 70 member licensing boards.

What is the difference between the FE and PE exams? The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam is the first step, typically taken near graduation; the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam comes after supervised work experience and is the gateway to the Professional Engineer license.

When was NCEES founded? In 1920, in Chicago, as the Council of State Boards of Engineering Examiners — founded by 7 of the 10 state boards that then had licensing laws. It became “National” in 1931 and took its current name in 1989.

What is NCEES’s connection to ABET? As the National Council of State Boards of Engineering Examiners, it was one of seven societies that founded ABET’s predecessor (the Engineers’ Council for Professional Development) in 1932. ABET accreditation covers the education leg of licensure’s “three-legged stool”; NCEES covers the examination leg.

Where is NCEES headquartered? Greenville, South Carolina, since 2020.

What this profile does not claim

This profile does not name current officers (volatile by design) or state exam volumes and pass rates, which no fully-read source verified. It does not present the “three-legged stool” phrasing as NCEES’s coinage — it is stated as the Council’s framing of licensure. All institutional history is NCEES’s own published timeline, disclosed as such.