Effective for Evaluations during the 2005-2006 Accreditation Cycle
These criteria are intended to assure quality and to foster the systematic pursuit of improvement in the quality of engineering education that satisfies the needs of constituencies in a dynamic and competitive environment. It is the responsibility of the institution seeking accreditation of an engineering program to demonstrate clearly that the program meets the following criteria.
I. GENERAL CRITERIA FOR BASIC LEVEL PROGRAMS
The quality and performance of the students and graduates are important considerations in the evaluation of an engineering program. The institution must evaluate student performance, advise students regarding curricular and career matters, and monitor student’s progress to foster their success in achieving program outcomes, thereby enabling them as graduates to attain program objectives.
The institution must have and enforce policies for the acceptance of transfer students and for the validation of courses taken for credit elsewhere. The institution must also have and enforce procedures to assure that all students meet all program requirements.
Although institutions may use different terminology, for purposes of Criterion 2, program educational objectives are broad statements that describe the career and professional accomplishments that the program is preparing graduates to achieve.
Each engineering program for which an institution seeks accreditation or reaccreditation must have in place:
Although institutions may use different terminology, for purposes of Criterion 3, program outcomes are statements that describe what students are expected to know and be able to do by the time of graduation. These relate to the skills, knowledge, and behaviors that student acquire in their matriculation through the program.
Each program must formulate program outcomes that foster attainment of the program objectives articulated in satisfaction of Criterion 2 of these criteria. There must be processes to produce these outcomes and an assessment process, with documented results, that demonstrates that these program outcomes are being measured and indicates the degree to which the outcomes are achieved. There must be evidence that the results of this assessment process are applied to the further development of the program.
Engineering programs must demonstrate that their students attain:
engineering practice.
In addition, an engineering program must demonstrate that its students attain any additional outcomes articulated by the program to foster achievement of its education objectives.
The professional component requirements specify subject areas appropriate to engineering but do not prescribe specific courses. The faculty must ensure that the program curriculum devotes adequate attention and time to each component, consistent with the outcomes and objectives of the program and institution. The professional component must include:
Students must be prepared for engineering practice through the curriculum culminating in a major design experience based on the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work and incorporating appropriate engineering standards and multiple realistic constraints.
The faculty is the heart of any educational program. The faculty must be of sufficient number; and must have the competencies to cover all of the curricular areas of the program. There must be sufficient faculty to accommodate adequate levels of student-faculty interaction, student advising and counseling, university service activities, professional development, and interactions with industrial and professional practitioners, as well as employers of students.
The program faculty must have appropriate qualifications and must have and demonstrate sufficient authority to ensure the proper guidance of the program and to develop and implement processes for the evaluation, assessment, and continuing improvement of the program, its educational objectives and outcomes. The overall competence of the faculty may be judged by such factors as education, diversity of backgrounds, engineering experience, teaching experience, ability to communicate, enthusiasm for developing more effective programs, level of scholarship, participation in professional societies, and licensure as Professional Engineers.
Classrooms, laboratories, and associated equipment must be adequate to accomplish the program objectives and provide an atmosphere conducive to learning. Appropriate facilities must be available to foster faculty-student interaction and to create a climate that encourages professional development and professional activities. Programs must provide opportunities for students to learn the use of modern engineering tools. Computing and information infrastructures must be in place to support the scholarly activities of the students and faculty and the educational objectives of the program and institution.
Institutional support, financial resources, and constructive leadership must be adequate to assure the quality and continuity of the engineering program. Resources must be sufficient to attract, retain, and provide for the continued professional development of a well-qualified faculty. Resources also must be sufficient to acquire, maintain, and operate facilities and equipment appropriate for the engineering program. In addition, support personnel and institutional services must be adequate to meet program needs.
Each program must satisfy applicable Program Criteria (if any). Program Criteria provide the specificity needed for interpretation of the basic level criteria as applicable to a given discipline. Requirements stipulated in the Program Criteria are limited to the areas of curricular topics and faculty qualifications. If a program, by virtue of its title, becomes subject to two or more sets of Program Criteria, then that program must satisfy each set of Program Criteria; however, overlapping requirements need to be satisfied only once.
PROGRAM CRITERIA FOR CONSTRUCTION AND SIMILARLY NAMED ENGINEERING PROGRAMS Lead Society: American Society of Civil Engineers
These program criteria apply to engineering programs including "construction" and similar modifiers in their titles.
design experience. The faculty must include at least one member who has had full-time experience and decision-making responsibilities in the construction industry.
PROGRAM CRITERIA FOR ELECTRICAL, COMPUTER, AND SIMILARLY NAMED ENGINEERING PROGRAMS Lead Society: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Cooperating Society for Computer Engineering Programs: CSAB
These program criteria apply to engineering programs that include electrical, electronic, computer, or similar modifiers in their titles.
1. Curriculum
The structure of the curriculum must provide both breadth and depth across the range of engineering topics implied by the title of the program. The program must demonstrate that graduates have: knowledge of probability and statistics, including
applications appropriate to the program name and objectives; and knowledge of mathematics through differential and integral calculus, basic sciences, computer science, and engineering sciences necessary to analyze and design complex electrical and electronic devices, software, and systems containing hardware and software components, as appropriate to program objectives.
Programs containing the modifier “electrical” in the title must also demonstrate that graduates have a knowledge of advanced mathematics, typically including differential equations, linear algebra, complex variables, and discrete mathematics.
Programs containing the modifier “computer” in the title must also demonstrate that graduates have a knowledge of discrete mathematics.
PROGRAM CRITERIA FOR ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT AND SIMILARLY NAMED ENGINEERING PROGRAMS Lead Society: Institute of Industrial Engineers Cooperating Societies: American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and Society of Petroleum Engineers
These program criteria apply to engineering programs using management or similar modifiers in their titles.
The major professional competence of the faculty must be in engineering, and the faculty should be experienced in the management of engineering and/or technical activities.
PROGRAM CRITERIA FOR ENGINEERING MECHANICS AND SIMILARLY NAMED ENGINEERING PROGRAMS Lead Society: American Society of Mechanical Engineers
These program criteria apply to engineering programs which include mechanics or similar modifiers in their titles.
The program must demonstrate that faculty members responsible for the upper-level professional program are maintaining currency in their specialty area.