Licensed professional engineers and surveyors have a new option for the ethics hours their renewals require. NCEES, the national council made up of the engineering and surveying licensing boards of every U.S. state and territory, announced an online course called Moral Literacy for Professional Engineers and Surveyors on November 9, 2026. It is worth two hours of continuing education credit and is the council's second ethics course for licensees.

What the course covers

The course is self-paced and runs in five segments, each built around instructional video, practical exercises and interactive activities. According to NCEES, it covers four areas:

  • What moral literacy is and its core components
  • Models and frameworks for making ethical decisions
  • Resources that can guide an ethical decision
  • Common impediments and barriers to acting ethically

The aim, as NCEES describes it, is to give licensees a working understanding of moral literacy and practice applying decision-making frameworks to situations from professional practice.

How credit works

Credit is earned by scoring 80 percent or higher on the final quiz. When a licensee completes the course, NCEES loads the course details and a completion certificate automatically into its continuing professional competency (CPC) tracking service, so there is no separate upload.

The CPC tracking service is free through a MyNCEES account and is open to any engineer or surveyor. It shows a side-by-side comparison of a state board's requirements and the courses a licensee has completed, which is useful for anyone licensed in more than one state.

The first course, and how the two fit together

NCEES launched its first ethics course, Ethics 101, in November 2025. That course is worth one hour of credit and covers professional ethics fundamentals, the NCEES Model Law and Model Rules, codes of ethics from professional societies, standard of care, and common ethical violations and disciplinary procedures. Ethics 101 centers on the codes and rules; Moral Literacy centers on frameworks for making an ethical decision.

Together the two courses add up to three hours of ethics content from the council that publishes the NCEES Model Law and Model Rules.

Why ethics hours come up at every renewal

Many state boards require licensed engineers and surveyors to complete continuing education to renew a license, and some set aside hours for ethics. The NCEES Continuing Professional Competency Standard, a model that state boards can adopt or adapt, calls for 15 professional development hours (PDHs) per calendar year with no carryover, at least one of which must come from a course focused on engineering or surveying ethics.

State rules differ, and the board that issued the license sets the requirement. Before counting any course toward a renewal, check that board's rules on ethics hours, approved providers and online coursework. The CPC tracking service's board settings show each state's requirements in one place.

How to take it

  • Where: log in to, or create, a MyNCEES account at ncees.org and open the Moral Literacy for Professional Engineers and Surveyors course.
  • Length and credit: five self-paced segments, two hours of continuing education credit.
  • Passing score: 80 percent or higher on the final quiz.
  • Record keeping: the completion certificate lands in CPC tracking automatically.

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