North Carolina PE Renewal & Continuing Education Requirements
How to renew your North Carolina PE license: Complete the applicable continuing education requirements, confirm your Professional Ethics course is completed, and complete the official online renewal process and payment through NCBELS. LicensePoint provides continuing education; license renewal is completed through the state.
North Carolina professional engineer licenses are renewed annually through the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors (NCBELS). Individual PE licenses expire on December 31 of each year and become invalid unless renewed. The Board generally opens its renewal process on December 1, and state law permits renewal during the month immediately following expiration. A licensee who does not complete the required renewal process loses the right to practice until the license is reinstated.
Annual PDH Requirements & Ethics Mandate
North Carolina professional engineers must complete 15 professional development hours (PDH) during each annual renewal period. Effective with the 2024 renewal, at least 1 PDH each year must be in Ethics or Rules of Professional Conduct. North Carolina defines an ethics or professional-conduct activity as one that addresses ethical concerns and conflicts, codes of conduct, standards of practice or care, project management and risk-assessment management, or similar subjects intended to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare.
Complete Your North Carolina PE Continuing Education Online
Get fully compliant with our 100% online, self-paced courses engineered specifically to satisfy North Carolina criteria, including the mandatory Ethics requirement. Certificate automatically issued upon completion
Engineering Ethics Fundamentals
1 PDH
Mandatory Ethics Requirement
Leveraging AI in Engineering Practice
5 PDH
Technical Area of Practice
15-Hour AI & Ethics Bundle
15 PDH
Complete Annual Target + Ethics
Qualifying CPC Activities
A qualifying course or activity must have a purpose and objective that maintains, improves, or expands the skills and knowledge relevant to the licensee’s field of practice. Selection of appropriate courses and activities is the responsibility of the individual licensee, and the Board retains final authority to determine whether an activity and the number of PDHs claimed are acceptable.
North Carolina recognizes qualifying activities that include:
Completion of college courses
Completion of continuing education courses, seminars, and workshops
Correspondence, Internet, televised, videotaped, audiotaped, and similar courses or tutorials, generally with an examination required for completion
Webinar attendance when attendance is documented
Presenting or attending seminars, in-house courses, workshops, conventions, conferences, and professional or technical presentations
Teaching or instructing qualifying courses or programs
Authoring published papers, articles, or books
Active participation in professional or technical societies or accrediting organizations
Obtaining patents
Authoring examination questions accepted for engineering or land-surveying examinations
Active participation on qualifying boards, commissions, committees, or councils
Educational outreach involving professional licensure or the engineering profession and K–12 or higher-education students
For correspondence, Internet, recorded, and similar self-study courses, an examination is generally required. However, no examination is required for attendance at a webinar presentation when attendance is documented. Contact-hour credit is based on actual instructional time and is credited to the nearest one-third of an hour.
North Carolina no longer requires engineers to complete continuing education only through a Board-approved sponsor. In May 2024, NCBELS announced that it would cease approving new CPC sponsor applications and that 2024 would be the final renewal year for approved providers. Licensees are not required to take courses from an approved sponsor; the responsibility remains with each licensee to determine whether an education program maintains, improves, or expands skills and knowledge relevant to the licensee’s field of practice, subject to Board audit.
Try Our Audio Podcast Format for PE Ethics
Fulfill your mandatory North Carolina Ethics Course.
US-PE-ET-103 - Audio Podcast Ethics for Professional Engineers
Stream the podcast-style audio modules on your phone or computer at your own pace from the course web site or your favorite podcast platform. Then take the mobile-friendly quiz and receive your certificate of completion.
Designed specifically for busy engineers, this course delivers your required ethics training in a flexible, audio-first podcast format.
NC Laws, Ethics, Technical course options
Carry-Forward & Recordkeeping Rules
A professional engineer who completes more than the annual requirement may carry forward up to 15 excess PDH into the next annual renewal period. The licensee must first exceed the 15-PDH annual requirement before any hours may be carried forward. Excess ethics hours may be carried forward when they are part of the hours earned above the annual minimum. For example, a licensee who completes 16 total PDHs, including 2 ethics PDHs, may carry forward 1 ethics PDH.
Licensees must maintain a professional-development record sufficient to support all PDHs claimed. The record must include:
Type of activity
Course title or specific subject
Sponsoring organization
Course location
Course duration
Completion date
Instructor or speaker name
Number of PDHs earned
Completion certificates or other attendance-verification documentation
These records must be retained for three years and provided to the Board when requested for audit verification. The Board may select licensees for audit randomly or based on information available to the Board. A licensee selected for audit must provide the activity log, transcripts, completion certificates, or comparable attendance evidence. The Board may also require information regarding the course content, instructors, and sponsoring organization.
Renewal & Exemptions
During renewal, the professional engineer reports compliance with North Carolina’s continuing professional competency requirements. The Board’s rules permit it to require a continuing-education form identifying the PDH credits claimed. When required, the licensee must provide sufficient detail for audit verification, certify and sign the form, and submit it with the renewal application and fee.
New licensees obtaining North Carolina licensure by examination or comity are exempt from the CPC requirement for their first renewal period. North Carolina residents generally follow North Carolina’s annual CPC requirements. A licensee who resides outside North Carolina may satisfy the CPC requirements of the resident jurisdiction; however, if that jurisdiction has no CPC requirement or the licensee is exempt there, the licensee must meet North Carolina’s requirements.
Meet Your General Technical PE Hour Requirements
Frequently Asked Questions
-
North Carolina professional engineers are required to complete 15 Professional Development Hours (PDH) annually. Licensees must complete at least 1 PDH in Ethics or Rules of Professional Conduct each renewal cycle.
-
Yes, North Carolina recognizes online continuing education courses for PEs. There is no limit on the number of PDH credits that can be earned through online courses, provided they meet the Board's technical content standards.
-
Engineers selected for a North Carolina CPC audit must provide an accurate activity log containing the specific course names, sponsoring organizations, dates, durations, and instructor names, alongside official certificates of completion. Records must be retained for 3 years.
-
Documentation should show certificates, transcripts, or comparable completion documentation, a Board-approved professional-development activity log, course dates and titles, provider or sponsor name, licensee name, and number of PDHs earned.
Course Syllabus
-
Combines six courses covering AI fundamentals, engineering ethics, prompting and documentation, cybersecurity and confidentiality, automation and licensure, and practical AI implementation. Learners examine engineering applications, hallucinations, verification, responsible charge, data protection, recordkeeping, tool selection, workflow design, professional accountability, and the use of platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. Includes applied scenarios, exercises, companion videos, and a final assessment for each course.
Bundle includes the following courses:
US-PE-AI-101 Artificial Intelligence in Engineering Practice
US-PE-AI-102 Engineering Ethics in the Age of AI US-PE-AI-103 Prompting, Documentation, and Recordkeeping for AI-Assisted Engineering Work
US-PE-AI-104 Cybersecurity and Confidentiality Risks of AI Tools in Engineering US-PE-AI-105 AI, Automation, and the Future of Engineering Licensure
US-PE-AI-106 Leveraging Artificial Intelligence in Professional Engineering Practice
-
US-PE-ET-101 Engineering Ethics Fundamentals for Professional Engineers
Covers public protection, competence, responsible charge, truthful communication, and conflicts of interest. Includes four practical video scenarios: The Compressed Review, The Familiar Client, Unfamiliar Scope, The Completed Drawing Set, and The Report Before Closing. Followed by a final quiz.
-
This course helps professional engineers understand how generative AI is changing engineering work and how they can adapt without surrendering professional judgment, technical accountability, or responsibility for public safety. Learners review practical workflows using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot for research, document analysis, technical communication, calculation support, project administration, quality control, and professional development.
The course is designed as a practical guide for evaluating, selecting, and applying AI tools in professional engineering workflows. It emphasizes appropriate use cases, productivity gains, effective prompting, verification of AI-assisted outputs, confidentiality protection, and continued professional accountability.
Will AI Replace Engineers? Understanding the Real Career Risk
Examine the realistic career implications of AI for professional engineers. It distinguishes between tasks, roles, and professions, emphasizing that AI is more likely to change routine production tasks than eliminate professional accountability. Learners assess where AI can accelerate work and where human judgment, field awareness, stakeholder communication, and responsible decision-making remain essential.
Choosing the Right AI Tool for the Engineering Task
Review tool selection as an engineering decision. Learners compare platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot based on task fit, source grounding, confidentiality controls, workflow integration, traceability, and cost. The module emphasizes matching the tool to the task, data classification, source requirements, and organizational controls rather than selecting a platform by brand preference.
Prompting and Workflow Design for Professional Engineers
Treat prompting as a form of lightweight technical specification writing. Learners review how to define objectives, context, constraints, sources, output format, uncertainty, and verification requirements. The module emphasizes source-bounded prompting, staged workflows, verification architecture, context management, revision control, and reusable prompt design for engineering tasks.
High-Value AI Applications Across Engineering Disciplines
Identify practical AI use cases across engineering disciplines, including research and requirements analysis, drafting and technical communication, calculation support, code review, technical automation, design-option development, trade studies, reports, specifications, quality control, and project administration. The module emphasizes that AI may improve speed and organization, but engineering conclusions still require discipline-specific competence, verification, and accountability.
Using AI Without Jeopardizing Your License, Employer, or Client
Focus on professional risk management when using AI. Topics include competence, responsible charge, confidentiality, privacy, security, intellectual property, source integrity, documentation, defensibility, organizational governance, incident response, correction, and adoption planning. The module reinforces that AI does not hold a license, owe a duty to the public, or accept disciplinary consequences; professional duties remain with the engineer.
Ten Key Points and Practical AI Use Checklist
The course closes with a practical review emphasizing that AI changes workflows but not professional accountability. Key points include choosing tools based on task and controls, using prompts as technical specifications, verifying AI-generated technical output, protecting confidential information, documenting material AI use, and retaining responsibility for competence, public protection, responsible charge, truthful communication, and final approval.
-
Designed specifically for busy engineers, this course delivers your required ethics training in a flexible, audio-first podcast format. Ideal for listening during your daily commute, a walk, or while traveling, this course breaks down the core ethical obligations every Professional Engineer owes to the public, clients, employers, and the engineering profession. Through realistic, cross-disciplinary scenarios, you will examine real-world trade-offs between public safety, project constraints, and professional duty.
What You'll Learn
Core obligations under the PE Code of Ethics across multiple disciplines.
How to navigate competing duties to public safety, clients, and employers.
Practical strategies for identifying and managing ethical risk on active projects.
-
US-PE-ET-101: Engineering Ethics Fundamentals (1 PDH)
US-PE-AI-106: Leveraging AI in Engineering Practice (5 PDH)
15-Hr-AI: 15-Hour Artificial Intelligence Bundle (15 PDH)
US-PE-AI-103: Prompting, Documentation, and Recordkeeping (2 PDH)
Training multiple engineers? Ask about group enrollment.