Accreditation: quality assurance for education [Personal and Professional Growth]

Program accreditation is a quality assurance mechanism that serves a wide range of constituencies. Its overall purpose, however, is to serve the profession and society. By establishing standards for the educational system, it helps to assure that graduates of that system will have the knowledge required to successfully practice the profession and to be of service to society. Engineering and its related disciplines have developed efficient and effective accreditation systems in many countries and have established relationships among those countries to facilitate international cooperation. The accreditation process has changed significantly in the past few years and continues to evolve. The growing emphasis on program improvement and not just on meeting minimum standards is a positive development that will help to assure the continuing success of the profession.