FAQ

Academic Requirements

 

For R. Biol., RBIT & R.T. Biol.

Registered Biologists and Registered Biologist-in-Training must hold a 4 year undergraduate (40 courses or 120 course credits) and/or graduate degree(s) from a Canadian university, or equivalent. The Registration Committee considers a 4 year university degree (40 courses or 120 course credits) is equivalent to a biology degree if it includes 25 science courses, of which 12-14 are in the biological sciences, and where a minimum of 2 of the biological science courses are at a senior level (i.e., third or fourth-year).
A Registered Technologist in Biology must have a 2 year diploma from a post-secondary institution. The diploma must contain 60 course credits and at least 8 biology/ecology courses, applied science courses, and at least 1 communications and 1 statistics course.

A listing of college programs that have been reviewed can be found here: https://www.aspb.ab.ca/registered-technologist-in-biology

 

For P. Biol. & BIT

To be accepted, an applicant’s university transcripts must show that the applicant has a 4 year degree (120 course credits) in a biological science (which includes sub-discipline or specialization fields such as botany, zoology, microbiology, and environmental biology) from a Canadian university, or equivalent.

You must have 25 science courses, 15 biology courses, 4 at the senior level, in order to be accepted. Undergraduate degrees in biology will not be accepted unless they meets the requirements stated above.
If you are in good standing (annual registration fees paid) with the ASPB, you do not need to resubmit your transcripts when applying to become a Professional Biologist, RT Biol or R Biol for education previously evaluated for your BIT,BTT, RBIT application. 

Your application will not indicate that your transcripts are "received", the administration reviews and confirms your application relies on education previously reviewed.

If you are submitting your MSc or PhD for application towards your experience, you must submit conferred transcripts.
The Registration Committee considers that a degree is equivalent to a 4 year biology degree (40 courses or 120 course credits) if it includes: 40 courses or 120 course credits, 25 full-semester science courses, of which 15 of the courses are in a biological science, and at least 4 of the biological science (i.e., biology) courses are at a senior level (e.g., 300 or 400 level from some universities; other universities number them 3000 and 4000).
Non-Canadian transcripts must be evaluated by a specialized International Qualifications Assessment Service assessment or a Comprehensive Course-by-Course Report World Education Services (WES) assessment . Information can be found HERE. A specialized IQAS assessment or a Comprehensive Course-by-Course Report  (WES) assessment is required, as the basic assessment does not provide sufficient information for the registration committee to accurately evaluate the equivalency of post secondary course work. If a basic assessment is submitted, we will request that you submit the specialized or course by course assessment.

Please do not forward the ASPB your academic credentials - we only need the specialized certificate provided by IQAS or WES.

The assessment must come directly from IQAS or WES to the ASPB.
It depends on the content of the course. There must be at least 50% biological content studied in the course. Once your file has been reviewed, you will be contacted if we need additional information in order to determine if you meet the academic requirements. Do not submit this information in advance of your application.

If you are contacted to provide further information, you will be asked to provide: evidence from the university that the course is equivalent to a course in biology; evidence from a third party evaluation service that a college course is equivalent to a university level course; the university calendar’s course description for the course; and the course outline and description of course assignments
Yes, an independent study course can count if it is considered by the Registration Committee to be biological in nature. Applicants who would like an independent study course to count towards the academic requirements should submit information about the course (e.g., the report that was prepared) to demonstrate its biological content.
Your transcript must show 15 university-level biology courses. This can be either courses taken at the university, or courses from the college which the university notes on the transcript as equivalent to a biology course. The Alberta Council on Admissions and Transfer has information on its website that shows how universities credit courses from colleges:

http://alis.alberta.ca/ps/tsp/ta/tbi/onlinesearch.html

You must be able to demonstrate that the college course was considered a university level biology course.
The Registration Committee of the ASPB has compiled a document outlining courses that have been accepted by the Committee - this is not an exhaustive list but can be used as a guide to show what courses are considered biology; please download the document from here: U of A course acceptance v2016 09 29.pdf
The Registration Committee of the ASPB has compiled a document outlining courses that have been accepted by the Committee- this is not an exhaustive list but can be used as a guide to show what courses are considered biology; please download the document from here: U of L course acceptance v2016 02 04-1.pdf
The Registration Committee of the ASPB has compiled a document outlining courses that have been accepted by the Committee- this is not an exhaustive list but can be used as a guide to show what courses are considered biology; please download the document from here: U of C course acceptance v 2016 02 04.pdf
The Registration Committee of the ASPB has compiled a document outlining courses that have been accepted by the Committee- this is not an exhaustive list but can be used as a guide to show what courses are considered biology; please download the document from here: Concordia University of Edm acceptance v 2016 01.pdf
The four year degree program from Lethbridge College is recognized by the Alberta government as a four year Bachelor's degree. The Practice Review Committee of the ASPB reviewed the course outlines and determined it meets the academic requirements for a Biologist in Training and Professional Biologist designations.
Lethbridge College: Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Ecosystem Management
King's University - 4 year Bachelor of Science, Biology Major