1. (b) Prior to licensure the applicant must accrue 12 years of acceptable education/experience credit. One year of education/experience credit may be earned for each year of work experience acceptable to the State Board for Engineering, Land Surveying and Geology pursuant to section 68.2 of this Part. Two years of education/experience credit may be earned for each year of professional engineering education obtained in a program leading to a bachelor's degree in engineering and accredited by an acceptable accrediting agency which specializes in the fields of engineering or in a program equivalent to such an accredited professional engineering program.

2. (c) Education/experience credits may also be proportionally earned for various levels and types of postsecondary education which, while not entirely the study of professional engineering, contain important elements/content of such study. Such postsecondary education should demonstrate the following:

   1. (1) that it contains important elements/content of the study of professional engineering, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, physical and applied sciences, design, and properties of materials;
   2. (2) that it is an appropriate subject relevant to the field of professional engineering, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, physical and applied sciences, design, and properties of materials;
   3. (3) that it is at an appropriate level of study that would, at a minimum, be the material equivalent of study at an undergraduate level; and
   4. (4) that it is part of a program accredited by an acceptable accrediting agency or part of a program equivalent to such an accredited program.
3. (d) In accordance with the provisions of subdivisions (a), (b) and (c) of this section, the department shall accept evidence of completion of a master's or doctoral degree in engineering in lieu of not more than one year of acceptable education/experience credit.

(a) Definition.

Unless otherwise provided, acceptable accrediting agency means an accrediting agency which is recognized by the United States Commissioner of Education as a reliable authority for the purpose of accreditation at the postsecondary level, and which applies its criteria for granting accreditation in a fair, consistent and nondiscriminatory manner.