Rabino v. State Registration Bd. for Prof'l Eng'rs

In Rabino v. State Registration Bd. for Prof'l Eng'rs, 69 Pa. Commw. 191, 450 A.2d 773, 774 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1982), the Board denied Rabino a professional engineer license, in part, because the university from which he received his degree had not been approved by the National Council of State Boards of Engineering Examiners (NCEE). At that time, the Board did not have a regulation delegating the function of accrediting engineering programs to NCEE, but had a policy of approving schools based on their rating with NCEE. The Court determined that NCEE approval was not the exclusive method of accrediting a college or university, noting the Board's broad general powers under Section 4(a) of the Law to approve a school if the quality of its curriculum was satisfactory. Based on Rabino's inability to establish the qualifications of Feati University, however, the Court concluded that he failed to meet his burden of proving that Feati was or should have been an approved institution. Clearly, to the extent that the Board does not rely exclusively on ABET accreditation but exercises its independent judgment regarding an engineering program that lacks ABET approval, the regulation at 49 Pa. Code 37.1 is not void as applied.