Comparison of EC and ABET Accreditation Criteria

The Washington Accord is one of seven mutual recognition agreements managed by the International Engineering Alliance. Its signatories recognize the substantial equivalency of programs accredited by the signatory bodies, and they agree to make every reasonable effort to ensure that licensing boards in their respective countries recognize this. Despite 25years of the Washington Accord, however, only a minority of U.S. state licensing boards acknowledge it in their statutes. This paper compares Engineering Council (EC) guidelines for accreditation with those of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). It concludes that there are substantial similarities in the EC and ABET accreditation criteria. This should encourage U.S. state licensing boards to acknowledge EC-accredited programs in their statutes explicitly if not through the Washington Accord. A number of key differences in EC and ABET accreditation criteria are also highlighted. Both the ABET and the EC accredit programs at various levels. This paper recommends that the International Engineering Alliance clarify the correspondence between the various levels of accredited programs of the Washington Accord signatories.