In 2001, ABET received a grant from the National Science Foundation and teamed with numerous industry and education partners to execute the TEI project. A central element of this undertaking was a three-year series of 13 regional workshops that, in total, taught 660 technology educators from more than 350 institutions about assessing and improving their programs’ effectiveness. Each workshop also allowed participants to interact with senior leadership from corporations that may one day employ their programs’ graduates. All past regional workshop participants were invited to the TEI Capstone Conference, when they could share their subsequent assessment achievements and challenges with their colleagues and learn new approaches for their continuous quality improvement activities.

Approximately 128 regional workshop participants reconvened for Assessing Success in Technology Education. This capstone conference began with a plenary focusing on the state of ABET and outcomes assessment as related to the technology community and a summary of the TEI project. This was followed by a special poster session, when all conference participants were invited to create displays exhibiting the continuous quality improvement concepts they have employed since they attended a regional workshop. Thirty-three posters were presented, and the top five submissions from this group were featured in a special interactive session that allowed their creators to expand upon and take questions about their accomplishments. Many of the posters will be displayed again during the spring ABET Board of Directors Meeting in Baltimore on Saturday, March 18.

Other features of the conference included industry speakers, who shared their employers’ approaches to continuous improvement, and a Blue Ribbon Panel with representatives from five technology programs that have undergone ABET evaluations since outcomes-based accreditation criteria were adopted. The capstone conference concluded with a recognition luncheon to acknowledge all of the individuals, industries, and institutions that helped to make the initiative possible.

In addition, the TEI Capstone Conference was accompanied by an intermediate-level assessment workshop exclusively for faculty who had attended one of the regional workshops. Thirty-four participants attended this interactive event, hosted by ABET Assessment and Research Director Gloria Rogers, Ph.D.

Assessing Success in Technology Education: A Capstone Conference for the TEI Community marked the conclusion of Technological Education Initiative, which many participants declared as a great success through both oral and written feedback. ABET is planning for additional faculty workshops in Baltimore, Chicago, Puerto Rico, and Tampa through the fall of 2006. These workshops are open to faculty from all applied science, computing, engineering, and technology programs. Details about these events are available at www.abet.org/workshop.shtml.

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ABET, Inc., the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, is a federation of 28 professional and technical societies representing these fields. Among the most respected accreditation organizations in the U.S., ABET has provided leadership and quality assurance in higher education for over 70 years. ABET currently accredits some 2,700 programs at over 550 colleges and universities nationwide. Over 1,500 dedicated volunteers participate annually in ABET activities. ABET also provides leadership internationally through agreements such as the Washington Accord, and offers educational credentials evaluation services through ECEI to those educated abroad. ABET is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

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Baltimore, MD – ABET, Inc., the recognized accrediting body for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, is calling for papers on ABET outcomes-based accreditation and its role in stimulating significant programmatic and institutional innovation and improvement. Accepted papers will be presented at the 2005 ABET Annual Meeting, October 27 and 28, in San Diego, CA. As the highlight of the 2005 Annual Meeting, ABET will release—for the first time—the much-anticipated results of Engineering Change, a comprehensive longitudinal study on the impact of ABET’s outcomes-based accreditation process on accredited programs and their graduates. The study has been in progress for nearly two years under the leadership of the Penn State Center for the Study of Higher Education.

Abstracts must be submitted to ABET no later than February 15, 2005. Faculty and administrators from U.S. and international two-year and four-year undergraduate programs in all ABET disciplines are strongly encouraged to submit abstracts.

ABET is soliciting papers that answer the following critical questions:

Papers should focus on one or more of the following topics:

Abstracts must be e-mailed to abstracts@abet.org by February 15, 2005. For further information, contact Maryanne Weiss, ABET Member Services Director, at 410-347-7700.

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ABET, Inc., the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, is a federation of 30 professional and technical societies representing these fields. Among the most respected accreditation organizations in the U.S., ABET has provided leadership and quality assurance in higher education for over 70 years. ABET currently accredits some 2,600 programs at over 550 colleges and universities nationwide. Over 1,500 dedicated volunteers participate annually in ABET activities. ABET also provides leadership internationally through agreements such as the Washington Accord, and offers educational credentials evaluation services to those educated abroad through ECEI. ABET is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

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ABET, Inc., the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, is a federation of 32 professional and technical societies representing these fields. Among the most respected accreditation organizations in the U.S., ABET has provided leadership and quality assurance in higher education for over 70 years. ABET currently accredits some 2,500 programs at over 550 colleges and universities nationwide. Over 1,500 dedicated volunteers participate annually in ABET activities. ABET also provides leadership internationally through agreements such as the Washington Accord, and offers educational credentials evaluation services to those educated abroad through ECEI. ABET is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

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International Summit Focuses on “Engineer of the Americas”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10, 2003

Baltimore, MD – Building on the successful “Engineering School of the Americas” concept, deans of schools of engineering and technical education, policy makers, professional associations, researchers, and others gathered recently in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the Ibero-American Summit on Engineering Education to discuss the ideal graduate of such a school: the Engineer of the Americas.

Event organizers, who included Hewlett-Packard, the Universidade do Vale do Paraiba, and the University of Florida-Gainesville, said the meeting was motivated by efforts among Spanish-speaking Latin American countries towards the development and improvement of engineering education.

Meeting attendees included representatives of ABET, Inc., the United States’ recognized accrediting body for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology. ABET has laid some of the groundwork for the education of the Latin American engineer with international standards and global vision through the Western Hemisphere Initiative (WHI), a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in November 2002 with the Consejo de Acreditacion de la Ensenanza de la Ingenieria (CACEI)-Mexico and the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE). The MOU signifies these agencies’ commitment to promoting quality assurance in engineering education throughout the Western Hemisphere. The purpose of the collaboration is threefold: to help build regional capacity in Central and South America and the Caribbean; to foster the establishment of self-sustainable national quality assurance systems; and to promote mutual recognition agreements among nations in these regions.

ABET Executive Director George Peterson and Past-President Jerry Yeargan of the University of Arkansas addressed summit attendees on the opportunities for partnership presented by the WHI. “The WHI will facilitate an ongoing dialogue among national authorities involved in the development of quality assurance in engineering education,” said Yeargan. “The end result will be a framework for assuring quality within individual countries, the mutual recognition of academic degrees and professional qualifications, and increased student mobility across the region.” Ultimately, this framework will promote the creation of mutual recognition agreements among quality assurance organizations of the region.

While no additional countries formally signed on at this time, many represented at the meeting signified their intentions to make a commitment to the WHI in the near future. They include Costa Rica, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Guatemala, Chile, and Colombia.

Next steps for interested countries include observers’ site visits and professional seminars on key issues, such as public awareness and understanding of the value of accreditation, the quality of distance education imports to developing nations, consumer (student) protection, and best practices.

“The WHI is one of the most ambitious projects ABET has undertaken,” added Peterson. “It is also one of the most worthwhile. ABET, CACEI, and CEAB look forward to working with countries in the Western Hemisphere to support their efforts in assuring quality in engineering education.”

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ABET, Inc., the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, is a federation of 31 professional and technical societies representing these fields. Among the most respected accreditation organizations in the U.S., ABET has provided leadership and quality assurance in higher education for over 70 years. ABET currently accredits some 2,500 programs at over 550 colleges and universities nationwide. Over 1,500 dedicated volunteers participate annually in ABET activities. ABET also provides leadership internationally through agreements such as the Washington Accord, and offers educational credentials evaluation services through ECEI to those educated abroad. ABET is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

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International Engineering Accreditation Bodies Meet, Admit New Members Into Washington Accord

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 25, 2003

Baltimore, MD - Signatory countries of the Washington Accord met recently in Rotorua, New Zealand and conferred provisional membership status to Germany, Malaysia, and Singapore – specifically, to the organizations that have responsibility for the quality assurance of professional engineering undergraduate degree programs at academic institutions in those nations.

Executed in 1989, the Washington Accord is an agreement among the engineering quality assurance organizations of several nations that recognizes the substantial equivalency of programs accredited by those organizations, and recommends that the graduates of accredited programs in any of the signatory countries be recognized by the other countries as having met the academic requirements for entry into the practice of engineering.
Organizations receiving provisional status and the countries they represent include the Accreditation Agency for Study Programs in Engineering, Informatics, Natural Sciences, and Mathematics, Germany; the Engineering Accreditation Council of Malaysia; and the Institution of Engineers, Singapore.

A provisional member must demonstrate that the accreditation system for which it has responsibility appears to be conceptually similar to those of the other signatories of the Washington Accord. By conferring provisional status, the signatories have indicated that they consider that the provisional signatory has the potential capability to reach full signatory status; however, the awarding of provisional status does not in any way imply a guarantee of the granting of full signatory status.
“Admission of these new provisional members is significant in the history of the Washington Accord,” said George D. Peterson, executive director of ABET, Inc., which serves as the Secretariat of the Washington Accord.

According to Peterson, “The review process is a rigorous one, and to be considered, all applicants must clearly define their respective approaches to educational quality assurance for graduates entering the engineering profession, or those seeking initial professional recognition. They also must demonstrate widespread acceptance of the quality assurance system in their country.”

“Most important, applicants must demonstrate their strong, long-term commitment to quality assurance in engineering education,” Peterson noted. “And as members, provisional or full, they must continue to do so.”
The Washington Accord is an agreement among the bodies responsible for accrediting professional engineering degree programs in each of the signatory countries that recognizes the substantial equivalency of the programs accredited by those bodies

The signatories to the Washington Accord include the Institution of Engineers, Australia; the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board of the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers; the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers; the Institution of Engineers, Ireland; the Institution of Professional Engineers, New Zealand; the Engineering Council of South Africa; the Engineering Council, United Kingdom; and ABET, Inc., USA.

More information on the Washington Accord may be obtained by contacting ABET, Inc., 111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, Maryland, 21202, 410-347-7700, or by logging on to http://www.washingtonaccord.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 2003

Baltimore, MD - Responding to the rapid proliferation of academic programs and disciplines that employ variations of the words “information” and “technology,” more than 40 preeminent theorists, thinkers, and teachers met in Washington, DC, recently to establish a common understanding of what information technology is, and to define the attributes that the graduate of a college or university information technology program should possess.

The need for agreement is urgent: estimates of the number of information technology workers in the United States range from 4 to 14 million, depending upon whether “Big IT” workers - those having even minimal familiarity with everything from cell phones to radios - or “little it” workers - those who work with computer-based systems - are counted. Educational institutions, reacting to the nearly $3 trillion global IT marketplace, are racing to fill the need by creating a multiplicity of IT degree programs, many of them with little or no connection to each other. This raises the additional question of whether to educate and train prospective workers in technology only, or in technology and other “soft” interpersonal skills, such as team-building and business acumen.

The colloquium, sponsored by ABET, Inc., and hosted by the National Academy of Engineering, was enabled by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant awarded to ABET to assemble a group of experts representing industry, academe, and government from across the information technology spectrum, including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, MIT, Stanford University, NASA, and NSF.

Attendees were charged with initiating the development of a structure, process, procedures, and criteria for ensuring the quality of information technology and similarly named programs. In doing so, they focused on determining the critical issues driving the discussion, the desired attributes and job functions of the IT worker, and whether ABET should respond to requests for accreditation of IT programs.

As the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, ABET has been asked to evaluate many of the new IT programs. According to Colloquium Committee Chair and ABET Past President Jerry Yeargan, “Defining the attributes of the graduate of such programs will provide ABET with a sound basis for developing the criteria to perform evaluations, and will provide colleges and universities with guidance for developing appropriate curricula.”

IT developers and users gathered over three days to hear invited speakers, share common concerns, and address the challenges posed by the burgeoning IT field, including the confusion and ambiguity that terms such as informatics, information systems, information management, software engineering, and computer science have created.

Speakers included Joel Moses, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Kruno Hernaut, Siemens AG; and Marjorie Bynum, Information Technology Association of America, who provided insights from the academic, international/industrial, and employer/association perspectives, respectively.

“While we did not expect to solve this complex problem in one meeting, we did accomplish two important objectives,” said ABET Executive Director George Peterson. “We helped to further the national dialogue that must take place to do this once and do it correctly, and, more important, we adjourned with a commitment from many attendees to continue to seek resolution with us.”

Details on the findings generated by the colloquium may be obtained by contacting ABET at 410-347-7700 or ABET Information.

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