CEUs what are they good for?

“The Continuing Education Unit (CEU) was created by IACET as a measurement of continuing education. One (1) IACET CEU is equal to ten (10) contact hours of participation in an organized continuing education experience under responsible sponsorship, capable direction, and qualified instruction.”

Source:

http://www.iacet.org/about/ceu.htm


Colleges can use these credits for course exemptions but there is no guarantee they will provide exemption. Most of the time they will not provide exemption from my personal experience. Maybe I'm trying to apply them at the wrong place.

So, the question is what are they good for?

 

In my case I am required to accumulate a certain number in order to retain/renew my license to practice.
Jack

 

CEUs

What field do you work in?

 

I am a licensed Social Worker employed as a Psychotherapist.
Jack

 

Jack had it right

My wife used to work at a department of professional regulation. Many if not most regulated professions need a certain amount of CEU's to maintain licensure.

 

Professional Engineers

Professional Engineers don't need CEUs to maintain their license.

I'm not sure about teachers.

 

I was once invited to give a talk to a group called the Pharmaceutical Association for Science and Technology. Since this was on a weekday evening, I expected few attendees. But I was surprised to have about a hundred people there. It turned out that PHAST was set up as a mechanism for people to gain CEUs for various certifications or licenses (pharmacy, regulatory, GMPs and quality, etc). And since they had to get a certain number of CEUs per year, there was good attendance.

 

I use it to maintain my CMfgE, CCP, and now the I.S.P. designations.

CMfgE requires 36 contact hours every 3 years
CCP needs 120 contact hours every 3 years
I.S.P. requires 300 contact hours every 3 years

I could maintain the 300 for I.S.P. and the other 2 can be served.

 

For the Certified Records Manager, CRM, CPUs cannot be used for purposes of certification maintenance. Only documented "contact hours" are acceptable. And generally, the contact hours are less than the CEUs shown on the seminar completion certificates. So in my case, CEUs don't count at all.