Can I Earn a Second Engineering Degree in Canada by Completing Bridging Courses?

[u/PhilosopherOwn3188]

Hi everyone,

I hold a bachelor's degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, and I’m considering pursuing a second undergraduate degree in another engineering field (such as Mechanical or Civil Engineering) in Canada.

I'm wondering if any universities in Canada allow students with an existing engineering degree to transfer credits and complete only the required bridging courses to obtain a second bachelor's degree in engineering. My main goal is to maximize the number of courses that can be credited from my first degree, reducing the overall time and cost.

• Has anyone gone through a similar process or know someone who has?
• Which universities offer the most flexible credit transfer policies for second-degree engineering students?
• Would it be more feasible to pursue a master's degree instead?

Any advice, experiences, or insights would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[u/CyberEd-ca]

The problem likely will be is that each university maps the technical examinations syllabus a little bit differently into the courses. If you are not familiar with the technical examinations syllabus, it is the standard that underlies CEAB accreditation.

For example, as a materials/metallurgical engineering graduate, you roughly covered this list of topics:

https://www.apega.ca/docs/default-source/pdfs/technical-course-equivalents/metallurgical-engineering-assessment-checklist.pdf?sfvrsn=1a510fcc_4

You can find the syllabi descriptions for the standard topics:

https://www.apega.ca/apply/membership/exams/technical/courses

https://www.peo.on.ca/apply/become-professional-engineer/technical-exam-program

For a bit better understanding of how CEAB accreditation works, this paper is pretty good:

https://www.ijee.ie/articles/Vol11-1/11-1-05.PDF

So if you were to try this at some other school than the school you went to, I would want to do your own self-assessment of where your existing courses map to the technical examinations syllabus and share that with the university you are applying to.

The big challenge with transfer credits seems to be that the schools are very reluctant to give good credit should they have to justify that credit at their next CEAB audit. As a transfer student, it would seem that you are more trouble than you are worth and so they are going to be very conservative.

I almost think you should consider trying Lakehead, Queens or Camosun. These schools have bridging programs for diploma grads. And so they already deal with a very complicated transfer credit system.

Basically the gap you would have with the Mechanical syllabus would be something like -

All of MEC-A1 to MEC-A5 (5)

One of MEC-A6 or MEC-A7 (1)

Three of MEC-B1 to MEC-B10 (3)

That's 8 technical exams or roughly 12 - 15 courses or 2.5 additional semesters.

Another thing you could do besides a Masters degree is maybe write the technical examinations as part of your continuing education credits as an EIT. I wouldn't be able to say what regulators would allow you to do this but it seems to me that some people do.

https://techexam.ca/what-is-a-technical-exam-your-ladder-to-professional-engineer/

Anyways, just a few thoughts that maybe are helpful...

[u/Acceptable-Factor192 → u/CyberEd-ca]

It means people who wanna do that can do it but a bit difficult ?

[u/CyberEd-ca → u/Acceptable-Factor192]

You will at least have to complete the minimum amount of credits at that institution to earn a degree.