In February 2009, the Engineering Technology Division (ETD) and the Engineering Technology Council (ETC), in conjunction with the College Industry Partnership (CIP) Division of ASEE held a National Forum to launch a new strategic initiative to help engineering technology (ET) programs across the country to enhance their ability to provide applied engineering talent for the future. The Engineering Technology National Forum standing committee (ETNF) meets to continue these efforts. Currently, the committee is focused on five areas:
(1) Enforcing the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rules for hiring ET graduates into engineering positions,
(2) CIP codes that differentiate between technical education and ET education,
(3) Investigating the possibilities of the Order of the Engineer (OOE),
(4) Moving states to more easily allow ET graduates to attain PE licensure, and
(5) Documenting the ABET accreditations for the programs in the United States, and
(6) Creating a truly ‘national forum’ for updating the status of these efforts for different states and universities.