ABET Accreditation for higher education - everything you need to know
If you have been an institute’s admin head, then ABET Accreditation should be a familiar term. The process takes around 8 full months to get completed. It is one of the reliable ways to offer quality education to students. And there’s more to learn about it. Let’s deal with them in detail and find answers for
- What is the ABET accreditation process?
- How can it be beneficial for your institution?
- What is ABET assessment?
- What are the accreditation criteria?
- How does Creatrix Accreditation platform help in ABET accreditation?
What is ABET Accreditation?
ABET, when elaborated, stands for Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. It is an accreditation body that is based out in the USA and designated to accredit engineering programs in line with the established professional quality standards.
ABET is a global standard in STEM education, ensuring associate, bachelor's, and post-graduate programs in computing, engineering technology, and applied and natural sciences. Software Engineering is the latest undergraduate degree program that is added to the ABET accreditation, effective from the Fall Semester of 2021.
It prepares its graduating students to be academically sound, and skilled to become lifelong learners.
Statistics prove that so far ABET has accredited 4300+ wide range of programs from across 800 universities and in 41 countries.
What is an ABET-accredited university?
An ABET-accredited university is recognized highly for the value of its education.
ABET executes accreditation with a "network of experts" who come from various industries and academia to validate and ensure that the institute’s programmatic standards are upheld.
The team contributes majorly to the understanding of what adds to quality education by reviewing program materials, visiting campuses, and deliberating on just what it means to be ABET-accredited. It is this thoroughness, experience, and dedication that makes ABET accreditation a standard one to date.
An ABET-accredited university is always looked upon. It has students thronging at it for the quality. Being ABET-accredited testifies your stakeholders that the program you offer:
- Has obtained international honor for its quality
- Facilitates “best practices” in education
- Involves faculty and staff in the self-assessment process and CQI process (continuous quality improvement)
- Is particularly established on learning outcomes than mere teaching inputs
- Determine the acceptability of transfer credits
What are the Programs Accredited by ABET?
ABET offers accreditation for the programs including;
- Distance Learning Programs
- Applied & Natural Science Programs (ANSAC)
- Computing Programs (CAC)
- Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC)
- Engineering Technology Programs (ETAC)
- Several Alternative Programs
Importance of ABET Accreditation
ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accreditation is a prestigious mark of quality assurance in engineering, computing, technology, and applied science education. Accreditation by ABET indicates that a program meets the high standards of excellence in education, curriculum, faculty, facilities, and student outcomes.
ABET accreditation is important for several reasons:
Quality assurance: ABET accreditation ensures that a program meets or exceeds the standards set by the profession and industry, ensuring that graduates are well-prepared for their future careers.
Global recognition: ABET accreditation is recognized worldwide as a mark of quality in engineering and technology education, making it easier for graduates to find jobs and work internationally.
Professional licensure: Many states require an ABET-accredited degree in engineering or related fields as a prerequisite for professional licensure, allowing graduates to become licensed engineers and work in regulated fields.
Industry recognition: Many companies prefer to hire graduates from ABET-accredited programs, knowing that they have received a quality education and are well-prepared for their future careers.
On a higher level, ABET is significant to:
- maintain compelling standards of quality in their fields of study
- compete with similar private and governmental institutes in the area
- establish recognition across the globe for the expected graduate qualifications
- deliver impartial feedback on the program, its assessment, and development
- regularly conduct a review of programs in order to create an expectation of continuous improvement
- supply quality education to students that will lead to a range of job opportunities and mobility
Besides the ones mentioned above, ABET accreditation helps institutions attain their PE or Professional Engineer license.
Overall, ABET accreditation is essential for ensuring the quality of engineering, computing, technology, and applied science education, and it is highly valued by students, employers, and professional organizations alike.
ABET criteria and eligibility for Higher ed institutes
ABET’s only aim is to promote excellence in technical education for which it chooses a continuous quality improvement process as its key.
Its accreditation criteria are not developed out of the blue. A group of academic experts, technical professionals with experience in various academic, governmental, and industry backgrounds from around 35 member societies developed it. It is they who evaluate educational programs for their quality, content, and relevancy.
The step-by-step detail of the ABET accreditation criteria and eligibility are as follows:
1. Clearly understand the eligible programs
As mentioned above, not every program is eligible for ABET accreditation. Only nationally accredited institutions and regionally accredited educational institutions in the USA can go for the accreditation process. It is to be noted that ABET does not accredit any certification or doctoral program.
2. Get associated with a degree-granting educational organization
ABET accreditation accepts requests for evaluation from degree-granting educational institutions only.
3. Minimum of one graduate is mandatory
Programs become eligible for accreditation only if they have at least one graduate passed out. Else, they may face rejection later.
4. Program name requirement
ABET mandates that the name of the program institutions chosen should convey its objective, giving anyone an idea of what it is all about, without misleading them.
5. Eligible programs
ABET accredits only programs including Applied & Natural Science Programs (ANSAC), Computing Programs (CAC), Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC), Engineering Technology Programs (ETAC), Alternative Programs, and other Distance Learning Programs.
6. Initial SSR Reports
Every program should submit its SSR reports before beginning its on-site visits. It is definite that the SSR reports should be accurate and free of data errors.
ABET accreditation process
A huge 18 months ABET accreditation process is broken down into the following simple steps.
Stage 1: Get started for the Readiness Review (by October 1)
To start with, institutions should go for the readiness review, which is nothing but collecting samples of syllabus, assignments, and curriculum. All these are to be documented by the beginning of October.
Stage 2: Evaluation Request (by January 31)
Request for Evaluation (RFE) is the next step that institutions should gear up for. This stage is mandatory for all programs that are seeking initial accreditation and must be submitted by January 31. Based on the submission, a review team gets assigned between April to May months, depending on the review.
Stage 3: Submission of SSR Report (by July 1)
Institutions should complete and submit the Self-Study Report before July 1. Followed by which the review team begins reviewing the report.
Stage 4: Onsite visit (by September-December)
It’s now time for the on-site visit. Institutions should prepare for the same scheduled to happen between September-December. All documents should be filed and ready. The staff, faculty, students, administrators should be ready to face panel interviews. The visit lasts for three days.
Stage 5: Decision-making process
- A week after the visit, the review team will notify institutions in case of any mistakes in presentations at the exit meeting.
- Within two to three months after the visit, formal communication happens about the review team’s findings.
- Institutions need to explain the shortcomings within 30 days.
- The ABET commission decides about the accreditation in the month of July.
- The final verdict about the accreditation is notified to the institute by August 31.
What is ABET Assessment Planning?
The true foundation of ABET accreditation depends on its ongoing process of assessment. Let us explain what assessment planning is all about.
Establish a mission statement and set goals with timelines
The assessment planning begins with the institutional mission statement. The statement should broadly cover the institutional purposes and other elements that define the institution. Besides this, institutions need to have a plan of action and a timeline with deadlines to achieve them.
Defining Program Educational Objectives & Student Outcomes
Long-term program education objectives: Institutions should have well-outlined program educational objectives for the long term based on the constituency requirements and according to the standards set by alumni.
Student outcomes: Defining student outcomes gives faculty the option to understand the student learning expectations and establish consistency across the curriculum.
Performance indicators: This means the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that the students should demonstrate before they graduate, indicating the competence related to the outcome.
Assessment design and execution
Institutions should follow an effective Assessments framework through which students' outcomes and PEOs can be identified, collected, and prepared. What is equally important is following direct, indirect, quantitative, and qualitative measures and using appropriate sampling methods as part of the assessment process.
Evaluate assessment findings
Use data to interpret whether student outcomes and program educational objectives are attained.
Using data for decision-making
The assessment’s meaningful feedback process is essential to strategic decision-making. It helps the institution keep the program up-to-date, supporting the supreme student experience, and confirming them to face their careers.
How can institutions attain ABET Accreditation successfully?
The following steps will help institutions attain ABET accreditation easily.
Keep in mind the time frame
The ABET accreditation process roughly takes around 18 long months to complete. Making sure the time frame is sufficient enough to enable a window for finishing all the formalities & meeting the standards of education really helps.
Check the eligibility of the program
Before commencing the accreditation process, they need to check the eligibility requirements. Sometimes your program may not fall under the ABET accreditation criteria.
Request application
Further to confirm the eligibility of the program, proceed with the accreditation process. Make a request for the same and submit the SSR reports for the ensuing process.
ABET review
process Based on your submission, the accreditation committee will evaluate the SSR reports & conduct an on-site visit to further proceed with the evaluation & final decision.
Benefits of ABET Accreditation for students and institutes
The ABET accreditation is mandatory. Graduating from an ABET-accredited school nurtures credibility by employers, graduate schools, and licensing boards.
Benefits of ABET to institutions
- The student exchanges among accredited programs are made more effortless
- Institutions get to sign off on engineering drawings
- Parents receive assurance of quality education to their children
- "Third-party" confirmation of the quality of programs
- Gives prestige and recognition
- Attract most fitting students
- Some external funding depends on accreditation status
- The program’s quality becomes globally recognized
- It signifies that the particular program’s academic team (Faculty/Department) has been striving hard to deliver best practices to assist students to accomplish much-needed skills for their career
- It means that the faculty have partaken in self-evaluation processes to continuously boost teaching quality
Benefits of ABET to students & parents
By enrolling in an ABET-accredited program, students will:
- Helps select quality programs
- Stresses the fact that the institution is committed to improving the educational experience
- Helps students better prepare "the profession"
- Establishes eligibility for financial aid and scholarship
- Obtain quality education from a program that satisfies the requirements of skilled organizations and continuously improves based on the feedback from industries, alumni, etc.
- Gain more career opportunities. Organizations wait to recruit graduates from ABET-accredited programs.
- Luck out when it comes to pursuing with American companies, or following with other American professional certificates.
Benefits of ABET to industry
Achieving ABET accreditation confirms that
- The educational requirements are met to enter the profession
- Aids industry in recruiting best students
- Enhances mobility
- Ensures baseline of educational experience
- Gives opportunity to guide educational process
- The quality of accredited programs has met professional requirements and the needs of society.
Cost of ABET Accreditation
The cost of ABET for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 cycles are stated below.
To know the fees for programs outside the US click here.
Stay up to date with the ABET accreditation fee structure by clicking here.
ABET Re-accreditation
Programs that are seeking reaccreditation of programs are expected to submit an RFE (Request for Evaluation) online by logging into ABET's official website. The RFE is general for the visits, interim visits, or interim reports.
How Creatrix Campus can help your institute attain ABET Accreditation?
Achieving ABET accreditation is all about acquiring and maintaining quality and commitment. Programs accredited by an eminent organization like ABET offer benefits to all stakeholders. The manual way of documenting ABET requirements may lead to missed opportunities.
Creatrix Campus has the most-trusted Accreditation Automation Software that will help you in the generation of the most accurate SSR reports by collating institutional data from different verticals. We can also help map your curriculum based on your long-term goals (CO-PO mapping) and conduct effective assessments to measure student objectives. Being a larger provider of Education suites in India with branches in Texas US, you can expect outstanding service & support from the team. Our client satisfaction ratio reflects the same.
If you wish to save the cost by half and to ensure the best teaching, learning, and assessment practices, you need to speak to our experts at Creatrix Campus. We give you a free live demo on request.
