ABET Accreditation
Workshop on Innovations in ICT Education
Beijing, China
Oct. 22, 2012
Michael Lightner, Prof. and Chair ECEE
University of Colorado, Boulder
2012 VP EAB IEEE
2006 IEEE President
Member of the ABET Board of Directors
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Disclaimer
I am not speaking as a representative of
ABET, although I can relate my experiences
as a Board member as well as a chair of a
program that is ABET accredited
I can relate IEEE practices in support of ABET
accreditation as well as other regional
accrediting bodies
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Purpose of Any Accreditation Process

Accreditation of a program, degree, or university is a
process carried out by a third party that provides a
statement to the general public that the program,
degree or university meets the requirements set by
the accrediting body
 These requirements are best viewed as a lower bound
and do not, in general, differentiate a truly excellent
program from an average program

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Understanding the requirements of an accrediting
body enables other organizations, such as universities,
companies and government organizations, to compare
graduates of one program to another – to mutually
recognize each other
Accrediting bodies have developed multinational
agreements or accords that provide for mutual
recognition, e.g. Washington Accords, Sydney Accords,
etc.
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Accreditation
Accreditation is NOT mandatory
– In the US, most (all?) states require that
public universities are accredited
– This is not professional accreditation
– University accreditation is useful because it
opens certain types of federal aid to the
students who attend that university
– University accreditation is done by regional
accrediting agencies
 Non-profit, non-governmental
 All members (recognized) by CHEA – Council
on Higher Education Accreditation
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Accreditation
Professional accreditation is NOT mandatory
– The primary benefit is that students who
graduate from an ABET program are able to
start the professional licensure program
immediately
 Licensure not required and many EEs are never
licensed
– There are probably other benefits in other
professions
 Law, business, music, journalism, all have
professional accreditation
– In most cases professional accreditation
requires that the university is already
accredited
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Accreditation
Professional accreditation is NOT
mandatory
– Historically CS programs were not
accredited
– CSAB was formed for this purpose and later
became part of ABET
– Still many CS programs are not accredited
– Some accredited CS programs are dropping
accreditation due to the effort it takes and
no perceived benefit for the students
 Northeastern Univ. just dropped its CS
accreditation
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Accreditation
Professional accreditation is NOT
mandatory
– However, most engineering programs are
accredited
– Used as a quality measure
– Used to show some level of equivalence
between programs
– Useful in mutual recognition
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Objectives of ABET
Identify to the public at large, specific
programs that meeting minimum criteria for
accreditation
Provide guidance for the improvement of the
existing and development of future
educational programs
Stimulate the improvements of applied
science, computing, engineering and
technology programs in the United States
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Types of Accreditation
Peer recognition
– Accreditation began this way – groups of universities visiting each
other and offering critiques and recommendations
Organizational requirements
– Professional and licensing organizations prescribe either specific
curriculum content, or require skills
– Could be government bodies setting a variety of requirements
Outcome based
– Outcomes can be judged in a number of ways

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Tests that every graduate of the program takes
A review of the performance of the students
A survey of graduate several years after graduation to determine success
A survey of employers of graduates to determine their level of
performance
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ABET
Program Education Objectives – board statements that
describe the career and professional accomplishments
that the program is preparing graduates to achieve
Program Outcomes – narrower statements that describe
what students are expected to know and be able to do
by the time of graduation. Related to skills, knowledge,
and behaviors that students acquire in their
matriculation through the program
Assessment – one or more processes that identify,
collect, and prepare data to evaluate the achievement of
program outcomes and program educational objectives
Evaluation – one of more processes for interpreting the
data and evidence gathered through assessment.
Determine the extent to which outcomes are being
achieved and results in decisions and actions to improve
the program
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ABET
Strictly non-governmental
Composed of 31 Member Societies
– Non-governmental profession organizations
meeting certain criteria including the ability
to speak for the profession
Member societies in charge of different
programs
– Set program criteria, identify program
evaluators
ABET sets the general criteria, conducts
reviews, evaluates and determines the
results of accreditation visits, evolves
processes and procedures
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Sample Program Criteria
Two components
– General Criteria and Program Criteria
– General Criteria
 Students must be evaluated
 Program Educational Objectives published
 Student Outcomes
– Ability to apply knowledge of math, science, engineering
– Design and conduct experiments, analyze and interpret
data
– Design system, component or process to meet desired goal
within reasonable constraints
– Function on multidisciplinary teams
– Identify, formulate and solve engineering problems
– Understand professional and ethical responsibility
– Communicate effectively
– Broad education to understand societal impacts
– Recognition need for life-long learning
– Knowledge of contemporary issues
– Use techniques, skills and modern engineering tools
General Criteria
Continuous Improvement
Curriculum
– 1.5 years of engineering topics
– Culminating major design experience – often called
the capstone design course
Faculty
– Sufficient number and with range of competencies to
cover all the curricular areas of the program
– Must have appropriate qualifications
Facilities
– Classrooms, offices, laboratories and associated
equipment must be adequate to support attainment
of the student outcomes
– Modern tools, equipment, computing resources, and
laboratories must be available
– Library services and computing and information
infrastructure must be adequate
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Program Criteria
Electrical, Computer and Similarly Named Engineering
Programs
– The structure of the curriculum must provide both
breadth and depth across the range of engineering
topics implied by the title of the program
– The curriculum must include probability and
statistics, including applications appropriate to the
program name; mathematics through differential and
integral calculus; sciences; and engineering topics
(including computer science) necessary to analyze
and design complex electrical and electronic devices,
software, and systems containing hardware and
software
– Electrical programs must include advanced math such
as differential equations, linear algebra, complex
variables and discrete math
– Computer programs must include discrete math
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Program Criteria – Computer Science
1.3 years include
– Fundamentals of algorithms, data structures,
software design, concepts of programming
languages, computer organization and
architecture
– Exposure to a variety of programming languages
and systems
– Proficiency in at least one higher-level language
– Advanced course work to provide depth
1 year of science and math
– .5 yr discrete math, calculus, linear algebra,
numerical analysis, probability, statistics,
number theory, geometry or symbolic logic
– Science, provide understanding of scientific
method and include a laboratory component
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Program Criteria – Information Systems
One year
– Coverage of fundamentals of a modern
programming language, data management,
networking and data communications,
systems analysis and design and the role of
Information Systems in organizations
– Advanced course work that builds on the
fundamentals
– .5 yr course work that must include varied
topics in an environment in which
information systems are applied
professionally
– Quantitative analysis or methods including
statistics
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Program Criteria – Information Technology
Fundamentals of
– Core information technologies of human computer
interaction, information management,
programming, networking, web systems and
technologies
– Information assurance and security
– System administration and maintenance
– System integration and architecture
Advanced course work that builds on the
fundamentals
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Why Accreditation?
Can be gateway to professional licensure
Studying in an accredited school can open the
door to financial aid
Certain employers will only hire graduates
from accredited programs
If the accrediting body is a member of a global
accord then the degree is recognized in
multiple countries
Knowledge that the program you are in meets
national, regional or international standards
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Accreditation – Easy or Hard?
Yes!
– It is extra work
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Setting various outcomes
Assessing the outcomes
Evaluating the outcomes
Implementing continuous improvement
– Can conflict with other goals/realities
 Research
 Limited resources – time, money, people
– However
 Processes such as ABET’s mimic how we might
want to design, build, maintain and improve an
engineered system
 It seems only appropriate that an engineering
educational system be treated as any other
engineered system
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Many Other Aspects of Accreditation
I can provide reflections in the Q&A from a
program that has just gone through an
accreditation visit
Thank you!