Accrediting Engineering Degrees:
Practice and Challenges
Richard Shearman
Director of Formation
regulating the engineering profession
The UK engineering profession
• 36 professional bodies – vary in size and history
• Own requirements for membership
• Common framework provided by UK-SPEC and ECUK
register of CEng, IEng and EngTech
• 21 accredit HE programmes
• Not compulsory to join or register with ECUK to work as
engineer – but c. 5k new registrants p.a.
regulating the engineering profession
© 2008 ECUK all rights reserved
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Engineering Council (UK)
• National Registration Body for Chartered Engineers,
Incorporated Engineers and Engineering Technicians
• Sets standards for professional qualification and
registration (UK-SPEC)
• Sets criteria for accreditation of HE programmes
• Licenses professional bodies to accredit programmes and
assess and register individuals
• QA function linked to licensing
• Maintains database of accredited programmes
• Signatory to international accords
regulating the engineering profession
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The value of accreditation
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Establishes a standard
Constructive engagement between profession and HE
Share good practice
Aid development and innovation
Kitemark and third party validation for HEI
Helps graduate/professional mobility
Simplifies qualification process
regulating the engineering profession
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Accreditation - History
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Began in 1960s and 1970s
A different HE scene
Predates national QA arrangements for universities
Steady shift from input to output
Can the accreditation process remain adaptable?
regulating the engineering profession
© 2008 ECUK all rights reserved
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Accreditation: key current features
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ECUK sets and maintains standards
Outcomes-based accreditation
Distributed system of accreditation
Distinct from the UK’s HE quality assurance system
Uses qualifications framework and descriptors as
reference points
• International recognition
regulating the engineering profession
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Current accreditation arrangements
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Peer review by volunteers
Written submission and visit
Scrutiny of student work, exam papers etc
Meet with students and staff
The programme not the institution
Rigour and demands are balanced
regulating the engineering profession
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Requirements for accreditation
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Focus on outcomes, not curriculum
All graduates achieve all learning outcomes
Clear programme aims, outcomes, assessment
Evidence of industrial liaison
Sufficient content at B or M level
Adequately resourced
regulating the engineering profession
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What about input measures?
• A number are considered including:
- Learning and teaching processes
- Department/School/Faculty organisation
- Human and material resources
- Cohort entry profile
- Staff experience and professional status
• These are indicators, not metrics or showstoppers
regulating the engineering profession
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The output standards
• Four general learning outcomes
- Knowledge & Understanding, Intellectual Abilities,
Practical Skills, General Transferable Skills
• Five Specific Learning Outcomes
- Underpinning Science and Maths, Engineering
Analysis, Design, Economic, Social and Environmental
Context, Engineering Practice
• More detailed statements describe each of these
• Now adopted by QAA as subject benchmark
regulating the engineering profession
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International Context
• Washington & Sydney Accords allow mutual recognition
of accreditation decisions
• Graduate Attributes framework developed but several
signatories are process-orientated
• Washington Accord verification visit to UK revealed
differences in approach
• In Europe, EURACE framework for engineering
accreditation
• More countries showing interest in accreditation (China,
Russia)
regulating the engineering profession
© 2008 ECUK all rights reserved
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Sharing good practice
• Between professional bodies and between universities
• EAB is key to former – forum for discussion, organises
joint visits, common documentation etc
• Websites, annual reports etc can highlight university good
practice
• Engineering Subject Centre, EPC also have vital role
regulating the engineering profession
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The changing landscape
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UK demographics: less homogeneous cohorts
Development of higher level skills
Changing employer demands
New forms of provision
Increasing number of multidisciplinary programmes
regulating the engineering profession
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Some challenges for accreditation
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Giving due recognition to work-based elements
Who is responsible for assessment?
Assuring level and standards in new forms of provision
More individually tailored programmes – resourcing
Longer completion periods
Encouraging cultural shift - accreditors and others
Monitoring programme change
Spreading innovation and improvement
regulating the engineering profession
© 2008 ECUK all rights reserved
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Distance Learning
• Achieving learning outcomes that are normally
demonstrated in a laboratory
• Module choice resulting in individually tailored and/or
limited programme scope
• Robustness of student support systems
• Open-ended nature and long completion periods
• The engineering employer’s role?
regulating the engineering profession
© 2008 ECUK all rights reserved
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The way ahead?
• Changes tend to be in inputs rather than in outcomes
• Current accreditation processes are applicable
• Mechanisms to bring employers more fully into the
process
• Dialogue between all: universities, professional bodies
and employers
regulating the engineering profession
© 2008 ECUK all rights reserved
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