Engineering Accreditation
Deborah Wolfe, P.Eng.
July 18, 2008
Today’s Presentation
• Introduction
• Collaboration between Canada and Costa
Rica
• Engineering for the Americas
• Caribbean Project
• Questions
Engineers Canada
 Federation of 12 provincial and territorial
engineering regulators
 Represents the profession at the national
and international levels
 Accredits university engineering
educational programs
 Prepares national criteria and guidelines
Canadian Engineering
Accreditation Board
• Created by Engineers Canada in 1965
• Membership:
» 15 volunteers, all ing./P.Eng.
» Range of disciplines and backgrounds from across
Canada
» Rely on specialist volunteers during program
evaluation visits
• Main Responsibilities
» Identify programs whose graduates are prepared to
enter the profession of engineering
» Develop accreditation criteria, processes,
procedures
» Quality assurance
» Continuous improvement
Accreditation: Results
• Over 250 accredited programs
• 40 post-secondary institutions
• Over 70 fields of study
• 55,000 students
• 10,500 graduates per year
Collaboration between Canada
and Costa Rica
1993 - present
How did it
start?
February 1993:
CFIA and the School of Engineering of the
University of Costa Rica (UCR), organized the
first Pan American Symposium on the evaluation
and accreditation of the engineering programs,
under the sponsorship of UPADI.
This seminar was attended by CEAB members.
January 1994
Canadian engineers, ABET, started a CIDA funded
project for the accreditation of engineering programs
in Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru with
the objective to:
Assist in the creation and promotion of national
accreditation systems in five Latin American nations,
thus providing the basis and expertise to create the
accreditation systems for the engineering programs
in all Latin American countries.
Each country followed its own path in their
November 1996
 A Workshop was held to prepare the first version of
the guidelines for the accreditation of engineering
and architectural programs
 The final document of this Workshop proved to be
essential for all the subsequent versions of the
accreditation criteria in Costa Rica.
 In addition, in 1997 the CFIA approved the creation
of the Accreditation Commission, in charge of
establishing a specialized accreditation agency for
engineering and architecture.
September 1998
At the request of the CFIA, a pilot project was
implemented for the evaluation of the Civil
Engineering program at the University of Costa
Rica by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation
Board.
UCR’s Civil Engineering Program was deemed
substantially equivalent to a CEAB accredited
program in 1999.
Discussions in Canada during this time frame
resulted in a commitment to assist Costa Rica with
Substantially Equivalent
Programs
Universidad de Costa Rica
 Civil Engineering
 Electrical Engineering
 Industrial Engineering
Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica
 Construction Engineering
 Electronics Engineering
 Industrial Maintenance Engineering
 Industrial Production Engineering
In Costa Rica
2004:
 CFIA and SINAES (Costa Rican National Accreditation
System) signed a joint cooperation agreement. SINAES
was created in 1999 at the initiative of Costa Rican
universities and was officially recognized in 2002.
2005:
 An addendum to this agreement sets forth the two
accreditation initiatives (CFIA-SINAES), and establishes
the AAPIA (Accreditation Agency for the Engineering and
Architecture Study Programs).
 AAPIA is based on CEAB’s accreditation criteria and
procedures for Engineering study programs and these, in
turn, are complemented with additional national criteria.
2008
 For the first time, AAPIA-SINAES invited all the
Engineering and Architecture study programs to
participate in the accreditation processes.
 The first evaluation visit shall take place in
September.
 The work started in 1993 is coming to fruition!
Future Plans
 A Memorandum of Understanding was signed
between the Canadian Engineers and the
CFIA laying out our future relationship and
continue cooperation.
 The participation of the CEAB members is
anticipated during the first evaluation visit of
AAPIA-SINAES.
 Intent to negotiate a mutual recognition
agreement, once the Costa Rican
accreditation model has been fully