Evaluating engineering programs under ABET EC2000 criteria: a perspective from ABET program visitors

Summary form only given. The authors served as the three electrical engineering program evaluators for ABET pilot visits during 1997, using the new EC2000 criteria for accrediting engineering programs. Under these new accreditation criteria, the changes in the program visitors´ role are significant. In particular, the visitors must explore the processes institutions use for developing objectives and outcomes, and the evidence they offer as indicators of the success of their programs in achieving their objectives. The evaluator must consider whether the indicators chosen actually reflect the program status. Processes must be in place for setting objectives and outcomes, developing curricula from these objectives and outcomes, evaluating the results, and utilizing the information gained from the evaluation for appropriate refinement of the program. In each step the institution should show that they involved the significant constituents of the program. The evaluator´s task is to consider if the educational objectives of the program are well articulated and accessible to constituents, and then determine if the program has provided evidence that it is achieving its objectives. The institution must provide evidence that the program´s and ABET´s student outcomes are also being achieved. The professional development criterion does not require that a program present materials on all courses. Instead, the program must show that it has sufficient indicators of the outcomes that exist and that it is effectively monitoring these indicators.