Engineering Program Accreditation: ABET Engineering Criteria 2000

Abstract:In order to meet the challenge of global competition in the twenty-first century, the American industry has long called for new qualities in engineering education so that the future engineers will be able to deal with tomorrow’s rapidly evolving working environment. To achieve this goal, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), after almost a decade of endeavor, approved the Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC 2000) in November 1996 for accrediting engineering programs in the United States and made the new criteria effective beginning in the fall of 2001. The ABET EC 2000 emphasizes a number of new requirements such as multidisciplinary teamwork and global and environmental awareness. The development of the new criteria is also a response to the shifting of national mood toward higher education from providing more services to ensuring the effectiveness of existing education. Under the new accreditation criteria, each engineering program is required to develop its own assessment process to evaluate the achievement of program objectives and the effectiveness of student learning. This student outcomes assessment becomes the core of the new criteria. The actual outcomes assessment process involves not only the currently enrolled students but also the alumni and industry employers. This study introduces the new ABET EC 2000 and provides an instructor’s perspective of the new criteria