A comparison of EC and ABET Accreditation criteria

Abstract

The Washington Accord is one of seven mutual recognition agreements managed by the International Engineering Alliance. Signatories to the Washington Accord recognize the substantial equivalency of programs accredited by the signatory bodies. Signatories to the Washington Accord agree to make every reasonable effort that licensing bodies in respective countries recognize this substantial equivalency. Despite 25 years of the Washington Accord, only a minority of US state licensing boards acknowledge the Washington Accord in their statutes. This paper compares Engineering Council guidelines for accreditation with ABET criteria – both are signatories to the Washington Accord. This paper concludes that there are substantial similarities in the accreditation criteria of the Engineering Council and ABET. This should give confidence to US state licensing boards to acknowledge Engineering Council accredited programmes in their statues explicitly if not through the Washington Accord. A number of key differences in the accreditation criteria of Engineering Council and ABET are also highlighted. Both ABET and Engineering Council accredit programs at various level. This paper recommends the International Engineering Alliance clarifies the correspondence between the various levels of accredited programs of the signatories.

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ORCID for Arif A. Anwar: orcid.org/0000-0002-3071-3197

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