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NCQLP Lighting Certified Seal

National Council on Qualifications
for the Lighting Professions

120 Wall Street, FL17
New York, NY 10005
E-Mail: info@ncqlp.org
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Lighting Certification Renewal


Lighting Certified certificants are required to participate in ongoing professional development to maintain their LC designation. Credits earned through professional development activities will be reported in 3-year cycles. A minimum of 36 credits must be submitted in each 3-year cycle in order to maintain certification, or if you have 25 or more years in the lighting professions, you are required to submit only 18 credits.



Question: How do I access the online transmittal of the LEU Reporting Form?
Answer: If you are an LC trying to access your profile for the first time, go to "LC Login" section on the left side of the site. Click the "Forgot User Name or Password?" link, if your e-mail address is current with the Registry, please enter your it and follow the instructions for access to your profile. If your e-mail address has changed, contact the NCQLP office for assistance at info@ncqlp.org.
Question: Why do I continue taking LEUs after earning my LC?
Answer: Continual professional development activities are essential to enable LCs to cope with a rapidly changing environment. Therefore, to retain the LC credential, individuals must accumulate 36 hours of continuing education / professional development and teaching every three years and submit a completed LEU Reporting Form. There are certain situations where only 18 LEUs are required for qualifying individuals, please consult the NCQLP Certification Renewal Guidelines.
Question: How often must I renew my LC credential?
Answer: LCs must renew their LC credential at three-year intervals. All LC credentials expire at the end of a third calendar year, regardless of whether the credential was earned in the beginning of the year.
Question: When do I send my LEU Reporting Form to NCQLP?
Answer: Your completed LEU Reporting Form and Certification Renewal Fee payment must be submitted by December 31 of the year at the end of your certification expiration. There is a grace period through January 31 of the following year.
Question: How soon after taking my LC Examination may I begin recording LEUs?
Answer: Those who pass the LC Examination may accrue LEUs from the beginning of January following the November exam.
Question: How do I record my LEUs?
Answer: LEUs are to be reported on the LEU Reporting Form, which is available online to all LCs in the year they have to recertify. Credits must be reported and the LEU Reporting Form submitted to NCQLP in the third year of your cycle. The LEU Reporting Form is available online via your LC profile and included within the Certification Renewal Guidelines, which are available for downloading through NCQLP Web site. No e-mails or faxes will be accepted.
Question: Do I have to send all of my documentation with my LEU Reporting Form to NCQLP?
Answer: NCQLP only requires that the completed LEU Reporting Form be submitted for certification renewal, along with the Certification Renewal Fee payment. LEU documentation must be retained by LCs for a minimum of two years after the end of the certification renewal cycle as it may have to be made available for audit.
Question: Seminars and courses vary in duration. How do I determine how many LEUs I’ve accrued based on the duration of courses and seminars in which I’ve participated?
Answer: NCQLP encourages LCs to use the following rule of thumb when evaluating LEUs.
1 LEU = 60 minutes
1.5 LEU = 90 minutes
2.0 LEU = 120 minutes
Question: Can I continue to use and adapt spreadsheet report forms provided by NCQLP in years past to report my LEUs for certification renewal?
Answer: Yes. LCs can list and compile their LEUs on spreadsheet report forms as they have done in years past, but it is NOT mandatory that they use the spreadsheet forms; just the LEU Reporting Form.
Question: Do I get only one LEU for attending IES Conference and LIGHTFAIR?
Answer: You get one LEU just for registering and attending the conference and tradeshow. You will also earn LEUs for every seminar and educational presentation you attend at these meetings, if they are lighting related.
Question: Will I earn an LEU for viewing exhibits at LIGHTFAIR?
Answer: No. To earn LEUs beyond the single credit that you will receive upon registering and attending LIGHTFAIR, you must attend appropriate educational activities.
Question: Can I get LEU credits for ALL my educational or technical activities?
Answer: Not entirely. You must follow the requirements listed in the Certification Renewal Guidelines, which include limitations on certain categories of LEU credits.
Question: Why are there limitations to the LEU credits I can earn?
Answer: NCQLP places limitations on certain categories of LEU credits to encourage diversity in an LC’s professional development. You can find these limitations in the Certification Renewal Guidelines.
Question: What are the credit limitations for certain commercial product-specific sales training activities?
Answer: NCQLP awards LEUs for application-based training that is generic in nature, not for participation in activities that are specific to a certain manufacturer. The key is to determine those activities and training sessions that are “generic applications for which you learn in a broad sense and that are not specific to a certain manufacturer.” Certain blended manufacturer training courses can earn you LEUs as long as you record contact hours ONLY for those training and education sessions that maintain the generic or broad requirement, which means that what you have learned and/or taught may be applied not just to a single manufacturer, but useful in several other circumstances. Remember, to paraphrase the Certification Renewal Guidelines, the definition of an LEU is one contact hour of appropriate training.
Question: How do I ensure that I have enough LEUs to recertify?
Answer: LEUs require diversity. You can get enough LEUs by attending approved courses throughout the three-year period between LC renewals. Think of it this way: You can earn all 36 required LEUs by committing just a single hour of your time per month to professional development courses.
Question: What is a self-evaluating, self-monitoring, or self-regulating certification renewal process?
Answer: The beauty of the three-year certification renewal process is that it has built-in possibilities for encouraging diversity by allowing LCs to administer and report LEUs for themselves. The process is designed not to be overly limiting so as to make accumulating LEUs difficult or concentrating acceptable LEU credit to a few organizations, courses or other offerings.
Question: How does NCQLP enforce or monitor the certification renewal process?
Answer: NCQLP randomly selects a sample of LCs for certification renewal auditing. LCs selected for a certification renewal audit are asked to provide backup documentation as evidence of their participation in an acceptable LEU activity
Question: What backup documents satisfy a certification renewal audit?
Answer:

The following types of documents satisfy the backup document condition of a certification renewal audit:

  • Copies of program brochures listing the agenda, time, date and other information pertinent to the course or activity
  • Certificates issued to participants by a presenter
  • Official transcript if the activity is a formal course
  • Any document generated by the presenter that describes the event and allows a third party to evaluate the content and/or mix of materials if the event is a commercial activity
Question: How do I obtain a copy of the Certification Renewal Guidelines?
Answer: The Certification Renewal Guidelines booklet will be available in Spring of each year for download on this Web site.