CEUs, or Continuing Education Units, are professional development education programs, geared towards working professionals to document their desired or required continuing education.
Depending on your profession and location, a certain number of yearly CEU credits can be required by the body that issues your license to practice in order to maintain your accreditation, such as in real estate, financial advising, medicine, education and others. The term is more prevalent in the United States and Canada where accredited training activities and courses are available or required for practicing professionals. Find out more about CEUs from IACET, the governing body for CEU accreditation based out of the United States.
Some education providers offering CEU courses are extensions of traditional universities, and require learners to have a specific number of contact hours with trainers. Usually this equals out to about ten hours of school work per year, and may require renewed enrollment.
Do I Need CEUs?
Due to the dynamic nature of certain industries, many licencing bodies and employers require their employees and working professionals to be up-to date with the latest trends and techniques to avoid risks and ensure consistent annual or bi-annual learning. Some of the many industries where CEUs are required by law include pharmacology, dentistry, medicine, teaching and health care. Different states and countries have varying regulations for the number of CEUs professionals require to continue practicing.
In the United States, professional licensure and CEU requirements are governed by each state, whereas in Canada they are governed by licencing body in the province or territory where you're hoping to practice. Explore your industry's state or provincial licencing body to find out about your industry's CEU requirements, and how they're offered! Make sure your training provider is accredited by the licencing body so your CEU course is officially recognized, and you can receive an official certificate to prove you've completed the course!
Other than healthcare, some professions that may require continuing education in both the United States and Canada include but are not limited to:
- Accounting;
- Engineering;
- Psychology;
- Insurance;
- Architecture;
- Interior Design, and many others!
Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
Detailed outlines are available of the required course hours and credits are available for each respective profession. Typically, one CEU requires participation in training activities for ten hours provided by training instructors. Different companies and licencing bodies have their own requirements and criterium for CEUs in terms of course length, attending hours and certification levels, and how often you need to keep up with CEUs.
Benefits of CEUs
The purpose of these courses is to help those professionals who need continuing education to gain new knowledge, and advance their expertise in their respective fields. By attending a CEU, you will learn about developments within your industry and maintain your professional licence. Even if you're a seasoned professional within your industry, changes can happen at a lightning-fast pace and keeping up-to-date is the best way to continue your lifelong educational development!
CEU vs CPE Points
The difference between CPE and CEU is basically the amount of contact time each represents.
CPE (Continuing Professional Education) points are defined as 50 contact minutes of instruction provided by a qualified individual while CEU (Continuing Education Unit) points are defined as 10 contact hours. If certain qualifications require either type of contact point, you can simply convert from one to the other.
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