Eligibility Policy.
The governing policy behind PCI’s open, experience-based entry route.
Overview
This policy formalises how eligibility is defined, evidenced and applied for the PCL-AI — ensuring access is fair, transparent and consistent for everyone, with no degree barrier.
At a glance
What the policy sets
- A single, experience-based entry requirement
- How eligibility is evidenced and verified
- Consistent, non-discriminatory application
- Re-eligibility for candidates who retake
Evidence and fairness
PCI applies this consistently and documents what it does, so the approach can be checked and improved. Final detail is published as the institute matures.
Common questions
Do I need a degree?
No — a specific degree is not required. The entry requirement for certification is based on relevant professional experience, around three years in any field, rather than a particular academic qualification. This is deliberate: it keeps the credential open to capable people who came into project controls through many different routes, while the independent assessment ensures everyone meets the same standard.
How is eligibility checked?
Confirmed at application, with sample or risk-based verification.
Where is the candidate-facing version?
Why this matters
Clear policies matter because they are how fairness is made real. A certification body that treats everyone consistently — on eligibility, conduct, security, impartiality and appeals — is one whose decisions can be trusted, and whose credential therefore means the same thing for everyone who holds it. These pages set out those commitments plainly.
PCI states its position honestly, including where processes are still being established. The aim is not legal cover for its own sake but genuine, transparent governance — the substance that lets a credential, and the body behind it, earn and keep professional trust.
- Substance over marketing
- Fair, transparent process
- Honesty about our status
- Responsible, governed use of AI
How the experience requirement is read
The entry requirement is deliberately simple: around three years of professional experience, in any field. The policy does not attempt to rank degrees, employers or job titles, because the credential's meaning comes from the independent assessment — the examination proves capability; the entry requirement simply ensures candidates bring enough working context to engage with it seriously. When you describe your experience, describe it plainly: the roles you held, what you were responsible for, and over what periods. If your history is non-linear — career breaks, part-time work, self-employment, a move between industries — say so directly rather than smoothing it over; the policy is applied to the substance of your experience, and an honest account is always the safer one.
If your application is sampled
What you may be asked for
Verification runs on a sample and risk basis, so most candidates simply declare. If selected, expect to be asked for supporting detail such as a CV, role descriptions or confirmation of employment periods.
How to respond
Promptly and factually. Verification is a check, not an accusation — a clear response usually closes it quickly.
If evidence falls short
An application that cannot be supported does not progress. Deliberate misrepresentation is treated more seriously, as an integrity matter with consequences under PCI's conduct policies.
The same bar for everyone
Checks are applied consistently and without discrimination — the same declaration, the same standard of evidence, whoever you are and wherever you work.
Routes that still count
I changed careers recently — does earlier experience count?
Yes. The requirement is experience in any field, precisely so that capable people arriving from engineering, finance, site delivery or elsewhere are not shut out. Describe the whole history; the assessment will test what you can actually do.
I am self-employed or contract through my own company — how do I evidence that?
Declare your engagements as you would employment: clients or projects, responsibilities, periods. If sampled, contracts or client confirmations serve the same purpose as an employer reference.
The candidate-facing summary lives at eligibility requirements; when you are ready, the application is where the declaration is made.
Keep going
How requirements are set and verified
Eligibility criteria exist to make the examination a fair test: they describe the experience and knowledge base a candidate needs for the exam to measure competence rather than luck. Criteria are set with the standard, published in full, and changed only through governed review — never case by case.
Verification is proportionate: declarations are sampled and checked, and misstatement is treated as a conduct matter. Borderline cases are decided against the written criteria with reasons, and refusals carry a route to review. See the current requirements.