Qualifying Activities for RQAP Re-Registration

Membership Activities: Membership in an association, society, or other professional organization

Membership in a relevant professional membership association/society such as SQA, SQA Regional Chapters, MoU Organizations, and Liaison Organizations

UNITS EARNED

1 unit per year of membership per organization (maximum claim of 12 units for professional memberships in one re-registration period)
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Invoice from each professional membership association/society showing the applicable year and payment or other documentation such as an annual certificate or card of membership indicating the Registrant’s name, the organization, and the membership year

Educational Attendance Activities: Conferences, training/workshops, webinars, online education, university courses, etc.

Time-bound education relevant to Quality Assurance (unique, non-repetitive live events or recordings that take the same amount of time for all participants, such as conferences, workshops, in-house company/consultant training or educational webinars)

NOTE: Training on your institution’s SOPs is NOT relevant quality assurance training.

See SQA's upcoming events, webinar recordings and Annual Meeting recordings.

UNITS EARNED

1 unit per 1 hour of education (minus meal times), rounded to the nearest quarter-hour
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Pre-approved by SQA: Certificate with name, date, and RQAP units

Not pre-approved by SQA:
  • Event/course/webinar title, date and description
  • Agenda or other documentation demonstrating length of time/duration of activity (with meal times clearly delineated, if applicable)
    • Any activity for which no duration documentation is available may be claimed for up to 1 units.
  • Proof of attendance, such as a certificate, copy of badge, final transcript, sign-in sheet, attendance roster, email attendance (not registration, but attendance) verification, session notes OR Registrant may mark the attestation that they attended on the submission form as proof of attendance if no other proof of attendance documentation can be obtained.

Self-paced education relevant to Quality Assurance (typically an online course)

See SQA's self-paced online courses.

UNITS EARNED

1 unit per 1 hour of education acknowledged by course (many courses indicate how many hours a course is likely to take) OR 1 unit per 1 hour of education actually completed (requires the Registrant to log all time spent on the course, with times, dates, and initials for each time segment completed), rounded to the nearest quarter-hour
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Pre-approved by SQA: Certificate with name, date, and RQAP units

Not pre-approved by SQA:
  • Activity title, description, and average hours taken to complete (if provided)
  • Log or other documentation demonstrating length of time/duration of activity
  • Proof of completion, such as a certificate, congratulatory email, final transcript, session notes OR Registrant may mark the attestation that they attended on the submission form as proof of attendance if no other proof of attendance documentation can be obtained.

Review of written materials relevant to Quality Assurance (webinar slides, books, articles)

UNITS EARNED

1 unit per unique written document reviewed (maximum claim of 8 units for document review in one re-registration period). 

NOTE: A book is considered one unique document; separate chapters from the same book may not be submitted as unique documents.

DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Pre-approved by SQA: Certificate with name, date, and RQAP units

Not pre-approved by SQA:
  • Description of document, such opening slide(s), opening page(s), or item listing, including author, publisher, and description or summary
  • Link to digital materials, if available.
  • Attestation (in description box) of what was reviewed.

University courses relevant to Quality Assurance

UNITS EARNED

4 units per 1 semester/quarter credit (e.g., one 3-credit university course is worth 12 units)
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Pre-approved by SQA: Certificate or other documentation of completion with name, date, and RQAP units

Not pre-approved by SQA:
  • Course title, description, and semester/dates
  • Proof of completion, such as a certificate, final transcript, all relevant sign-in sheets or attendance rosters, email verification of course completion (not registration, but completion)

Instructing or Authoring Activities: Oral presentations, poster presentations, peer-reviewed articles, technical articles, etc.

Instructing, lecturing or training, per unique, non-repetitive session presented

UNITS EARNED

4 units per 1 hour of content presented
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Pre-approved by SQA: Certificate or other documentation of presentation with name, date, and RQAP units

Not pre-approved by SQA:
  • Event/course/webinar title, date and description
  • Agenda or other documentation demonstrating length of time/duration of presentation (with meal times clearly delineated, if applicable)
  • Proof of presentation, such as the title slide from your presentation with the presentation name, trainer’s name, and presentation date

Primary/first author for a poster presentation, per unique, non-repetitive poster

UNITS EARNED

4 units per poster
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Pre-approved by SQA: Certificate or other documentation of presentation with name, date, and RQAP units

Not pre-approved by SQA:
  • Poster title, date and description (preferably in an “official” format such as a copy of the presentation title or abstract from the conference program book)
  • Proof of presentation, such as a certificate or a copy of the poster

Participating author for published, peer-reviewed articles, books or book chapters

UNITS EARNED

4 units per published work
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Pre-approved by SQA: Certificate or other documentation of publication with name, date, and RQAP units

Not pre-approved by SQA: Copy of title page, abstract, etc. from publication demonstrating the title, authors, and publisher

Primary/first author on technical articles for a relevant professional membership association/society newsletter

UNITS EARNED

2 non-GCP | non-GLP units per technical article
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Pre-approved by SQA: Certificate or other documentation of publication with name, date, and RQAP units

Not pre-approved by SQA: Copy of title page, abstract, etc. from publication demonstrating the title, authors, and newsletter publisher

Service Activities: Activities done in service to SQA, an SQA Regional Chapter, or another relevant professional membership association/society or nonprofit organization

Participation on a Board or an elected or appointed Committee for a relevant professional membership association/society

SQA members may be elected/appointed to the SQA Board of Directors and some SQA Committees. See more information about SQA Regional Chapters.

UNITS EARNED

4 units per year of service (maximum claim of 12 GCP or GLP units for Board or Committee participation in one re-registration period; any remaining units must be claimed as non-discipline specific units)
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Invitation to serve on Board or Committee with Registrant’s name and the term length/dates
OR
Thank you letter to Registrant for service on Board or Committee with term length/dates
OR
Copies of the "attendance” section of Board or Committee minutes demonstrating the Registrant’s name and dates of participation

Participation as Chair, Co-Chair, Vice Chair, or Co-Vice Chair on a volunteer Committee or special interest group/specialty section for a relevant professional membership association/society. Only service as one of these officers qualifies; membership in a volunteer group does not.

SQA members may participate in and serve as officers of SQA Volunteer Committees and Specialty Sections.

UNITS EARNED

4 units per year of service (maximum claim of 12 GCP or GLP units for Board or Committee participation in one re-registration period; any remaining units must be claimed as non-discipline specific units)
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Invitation to serve as Chair/Vice Chair on Committee/special interest group with Registrant’s name and the term length/dates
OR
Thank you letter to Registrant for service as Chair/Vice Chair on Committee/special interest group with term length/dates
OR
Copies of the “attendance” section of Committee/special interest group minutes demonstrating the Registrant’s name, position as Chair/Vice Chair and dates of participation

Mentor, Mentee, or Peer Partner in the Mentoring Program of a relevant professional membership association/society

SQA members are eligible to participate in the SQA Mentoring Program.

UNITS EARNED

8 units per mentoring partnership of 6 months or more (maximum claim of 16 units per year for mentoring activities in one re-registration period)
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Pre-approved by SQA: Certificate or other documentation of mentoring partnership with name, date of partnership completion, and RQAP units

Not pre-approved by SQA:
  • Invitation to participate in a mentoring partnership with Registrant’s name and the partnership length/dates
  • Documentation of partnership taking place, such as certificate of completion, thank you email, contact log recording all mentoring meetings’ dates/durations, document recording completion of mentoring goals, etc.

Abstract reviewer for a professional conference

UNITS EARNED

1 unit per conference (maximum claim of 1 unit per year for abstract review activities in on re-registration period)
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Evidence of completing abstract reviews, such as a dated letter or email from the conference chair identifying the Registrant as an abstract reviewer OR Registrant may mark the attestation that they attended on the submission form as proof of attendance if no other proof of attendance documentation can be obtained.

Volunteering to explain/conduct QA activities with young people (at a STEM expo or career fair, for example)

UNITS EARNED

4 units per day of volunteering (with a minimum volunteer time of 4 hours each day claimed)
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Evidence of volunteer activity, such as a dated letter or email from the activity organizer identifying the Registrant as volunteer, the name and date of the event, and the volunteer duties that were executed OR Registrant may mark the attestation that they attended on the submission form as proof of attendance if no other proof of attendance documentation can be obtained.

Submission of solicited questions for the RQAP-GLP or RQAP-GCP examination

NOTE: Unsolicited questions will NOT be accepted for credit, and item writing training is required prior to submitting questions. Contact the Chair of the GCP Examination Committee or GLP Examination Committee for information and/or instructions prior to writing exam questions.

UNITS EARNED

4 units per 10 questions submitted
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

Pre-approved by SQA: Certificate or other documentation of questions submitted with name, date of question submission, and RQAP units