Certificate in Engineering
Engineering is the application of science and technology for the benefit of individuals and society.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University offers a complement of courses similar to the first-year engineering curriculum at engineering-degree granting institutions such as UBC, SFU and UVic. The first-year engineering courses are packaged together as the Certificate in Engineering. Completion of the certificate courses may allow a student to transfer directly to second-year engineering at an engineering-degree granting institution.
There are two pathways for completing the Certificate in Engineering:
1) Direct – Students may be admitted directly to the First-year Engineering program. Students accepted into First-year Engineering will have access to reserved seats in all of the courses required for the Certificate in Engineering. To be considered for admission in the First-year Engineering program, students must meet the following minimum requirements:
- English 12 with a B (or equivalent)
- Chemistry 12 with a C+ (or equivalent)
- Principles of Math 12 or Pre-calculus 12 with a B (or equivalent)
- Principles of Physics 12 with a C (or equivalent)
Up to fifty (50) students may be selected for the First-year Engineering program. Selection is based on a competitive grade-point-average (GPA) of the above program requirement courses, and meeting a minimum GPA. In past years, this minimum GPA has been around 3.25 out of 4.0.
Students wishing to apply for direct entry should apply to the Faculty of Science and indicate “Engineering” as their first choice, and “Exploratory” as their second choice. Students who are not admitted to the First-year Engineering program will automatically be placed in their second choice. Student who are not admitted to the First-year Engineering program and do not list a second choice will not be admitted to KPU.
The First-year Engineering program is recommended for students wishing to transfer to UBC under their Engineering Transfer guarantee.
First-year Engineering students unable to complete the program within two semesters will be re-classified as undeclared Faculty of Science students and may choose to complete the Certificate in Engineering via the indirect route (see below). Completion or even partial completion of the Certificate in Engineering may qualify the students to declare into one of KPU’s degree programs, such as the Bachelor of Science in Physics for Modern Technology.
Students not selected for First-year Engineering may still be able to complete the Certificate in Engineering within two semesters to qualify for UBC’s Engineering Transfer guarantee, however, registration into the required courses will be on a first-come basis (see the indirect route below).
2) Indirect – Students may also choose to complete the Certificate in Engineering without admission to the First-year Engineering program. Students admitted to the Faculty of Science will have access to all the required Certificate courses on a first-come basis – seat availability in these courses is not guaranteed.
Many of the Certificate in Engineering courses have pre-requisites that must be satisfied before registration is allowed. Satisfying all the following minimum course pre-requisites will allow the student to enroll in the Certificate courses without further upgrades:
- English 12 with a B (or equivalent)
- Chemistry 12 with a C+ (or equivalent)
- Principles of Math 12 or Pre-calculus 12 with a B (or equivalent)
- Principles of Physics 12 with a C (or equivalent)
The indirect pathway is used by:
- students who may be missing some or all of the course pre-requisites;
- students choosing to complete the Certificate in Engineering part-time;
- students who applied for the First-year Engineering program but were not selected; and
- students selected for the First-year program but unable to complete the program within the one year limit.
Students who may be missing course pre-requisites or who choose to complete the Certificate part-time should apply to the Faculty of Science and indicate “Exploratory” as their first choice – provided the student meets the Faculty entrance requirement, they will be admitted to the Faculty of Science. It is highly recommended that these students talk to an educational advisor to map out a semester-by-semester pathway towards the Certificate in Engineering.
To facilitate registration into high-demand courses, students nearing the completion of the Certificate in Engineering will have an opportunity to access a limited number of reserved seats. During the Spring semester, students will need to indicate their desire to access these reserved seats by speaking directly to the Engineering Coordinator. The selection of students for these reserved seats will be based on their Kwantlen GPA and their ability to complete the remaining Certificate courses within the next two semesters (Fall and Spring of the following year).
Completion or even partial completion of the Certificate in Engineering may qualify the students to declare into one of KPU’s degree programs, such as the Bachelors of Science in Physics for Modern Technology.
A list of options for transferring to an engineering degree-granting institution can be found here.