Accreditation of Mechanical Engineering Education in the USA in 21st Century

Accreditation board for engineering and technology (ABET) in the USA made a paradigm shift in its accreditation criteria for evaluation of engineering education in 2000. Under the new criteria, called ABET2000, educational programs are evaluated based on thir outcomes as opposed to their contents, which were the mail focus under the old criteria. Engineering education has thus undergone major changes. In this paper, ABET s purpose, its criteria, and the evaluation process are explained, followed by specific industrial