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International Educational Activities of ABET Inc. Abstract

The Global Vision of ABET is to consult and assist as requested in the development and advancement of education worldwide. ABET is currently involved in several endeavors which address the issues of globalization in engineering education and accreditation such as the Washington Accord, the Western Hemisphere Initiative and international accreditation.

The Washington Accord, signed in 1989, is an international agreement among bodies responsible for accrediting engineering degree programs. It recognizes the substantial equivalency of programs accredited by those bodies and recommends that graduates of programs accredited by any of the signatory bodies be recognized by the other bodies as having met the academic requirements for entry to the practice of engineering. The Washington Accord is designed to facilitate mobility for engineers in the engineering profession.

The Western Hemisphere Initiative established in 2002, is an initiative to promote cooperation to improve the quality of engineering education through the development of quality assurance. This initiative seeks to enhance and explore cooperative efforts among the nation of North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America leading to the development of bilateral and regional agreements among engineering quality assurance organizations of these nations. Members of the Western Hemisphere Initiative include ABET, the Council for Higher Education (CHEA), The Consejo de Acreditación de la Ensenanza de la Ingeniería (CACEI) of Mexico, Engineers Canada, and more recently the Instituto Para la Calidad en la Acreditación en las Carreras de Ingenería y Tecnología (ICACIT) of Peru.

For the past 15 years, ABET would evaluate an engineering program, upon request by the institution, to determine if the program was substantially equivalent to an accredited program in the United States. The evaluation used the same criteria for accreditation in the United States while making some allowances for country and cultural differences. The ABET Board, at its annual meeting in October 2006, granted its approval to accredit programs outside the United States and to phase out substantial equivalency evaluations. An implementation plan has been developed to transition programs that are currently recognized as substantially equivalent to accreditation at their next scheduled review.

Introduction

Established in 1932, ABET Inc., is the responsible body for quality assurance of engineering education in the United States. ABET is a federation of 28 professional and technical societies that work together to promote and enhance applied science, computing, engineering, and technology education. 1 In addition to ensuring the quality of engineering education in the U.S., ABET is substantially active globally. The global mission of ABET is to “consult and assist as requested in the development and advancement of education worldwide.” 2 ABET has been and is currently involved in several endeavors that address the issues of globalization in technical education and its quality assurance. These endeavors include consulting, mutual recognition

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Peterson, G., & Aberle, K. (2008, June), International Educational Activities Of Abet Inc. Paper presented at 2008 Annual Conference & Exposition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--4231