Image courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding. The Value of Accreditation How ABET Helps STEM Programs Adapt to Industry’s Evolving Needs An ABET Issue Brief Spring 2020 SUMMARY: Research has ABET At a Glance shown that more engagement between academia and ABET is a federation of 36 professional societies that govern policy, industry is needed to establish strategy, develop criteria and guide accreditation activities equip students in Science, on behalf of their respective professions. These societies represent Technology, Engineering and more than 1.5 million professionals located in nearly every country Math (STEM) programs with of the world. The societies are also the primary source of more the skills today’s employers than 2,000 expert volunteers who conduct the important work of require. Sitting at the nexus of accreditation in their respective disciplines. These volunteers provide industry and academia, ABET the necessary assurance that a program is being evaluated by an bridges this gap to ensure expert with that discipline’s specialized knowledge. that STEM graduates are prepared with the knowledge, ABET was founded in 1932 as the Engineers’ Council for Professional skills and aptitudes to meet Development (ECPD), an engineering professional body dedicated to workforce demand. With the education, accreditation, regulation and professional development several feedback channels of engineering professionals and students in the United States. A from industry, ABET continues decade later, the council expanded to evaluate engineering technology to support STEM programs degree programs. Around the same time that Boeing and other industry in adapting program content representatives called for a reimagining of engineering education in and delivery as markets and the United States, ABET began branching out from engineering to other professions evolve. STEM disciplines such as computer science. This issue brief explores the Today, the organization accredits more than 4,000 college and university value of ABET accreditation programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering and from the perspective of engineering technology at over 800 universities in 32 countries. industry stakeholders and underscores the important ABET also has significant global engagement as a signatory to role of industry experts in multilateral and bilateral international agreements such as the the accreditation process, Washington Accord for engineering. ABET has signed several other through participation in mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) that recognize the substantial the ABET Industry Advisory equivalency of participating organizations’ accreditation processes Council (IAC), representation and their graduates’ preparedness to begin professional practice of professional societies at the entry level. ABET’s global engagement and responsiveness to and involvement as Program international partners is critical to ensuring that STEM graduates are Evaluators. prepared to succeed in the global economy. Historical Overview: A Post-War “The beauty of EC2000 is that by using outcomes Shift to Scientific Research we’re not going to tell [institutions] how to weave them into the curriculum. Universities have to STEM education in the United States entered a show us how they address these outcomes,” new era in the aftermath of World War II. Many explained Dayne Aldridge, ABET’s Adjunct of the innovations, such as nuclear technology, Accreditation Director for Engineering, who was came out of physics labs rather than engineering involved in the transition process throughout the departments. This led to a profound shake up in 1990s. “It’s worked much better than any of us ever engineering education during the post-war period. imagined it would. Today, soft skills are built into The global Cold War and resulting arms race drove the curriculum in different ways and there is no research funding from the federal government explicit requirement that says [students] have to to support a shift to more theoretically based take courses in X, Y or Z.” engineering. While much progress has been made since the With such a strong focus on scientific research, adoption of EC2000, there is still a need for universities paid less attention to the demands continued collaboration between academia and of industry. By the mid-1980s, industry industry as employer needs continue to evolve. representatives put out a call to radically overhaul engineering programs because they weren’t producing graduates who were prepared to work in Program Criteria Adapts to the private sector. Evolving Market Demands A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Since EC2000, ABET streamlined changes to and Education tracked how Boeing principal engineer allowed flexibility in program criteria based on John McMasters brought industry and academia input from industry via the member societies. together in his quest to rewrite engineering “ABET itself has worked hard to enable innovation education in the late 80s. At the time, Boeing and shorten the cycle as to how the criteria was hiring graduates who were more prepared gets changed, how we approach accreditation, for research than for careers in engineering. and to enable programs to really differentiate McMasters was concerned that this skills gap themselves. ABET honors that and simply looks would hurt U.S. industry’s competitiveness in an for a satisfaction of the criteria that is defined increasingly globalized market. One Boeing leader for all programs,” said Ron Hinn, Executive Vice said that it took five years of on-the-job training to President at PetroSkills and current Chair of bring new hires up to speed.1 ABET’s Industry Advisory Council. “The majority of graduates come out of programs that have specific discipline criteria that’s been defined by A New Focus on Outcomes their professional society.” McMasters set his sights on ABET as the Program criteria can evolve in response to preeminent accreditor of engineering programs. disciplinary needs. Daina Briedis, Assistant Dean At the time, the organization’s accreditation of the College of Engineering at Michigan State standards were seen by industry as rigid, University and Adjunct Director of Professional prescriptive and antithetical to innovation, and Development for ABET, said the professional program assessment focused on specific courses society (AIChE) for chemical engineering played and credit hours students were taking. a major role in promoting safety in chemical engineering programs. In response to industry demand, ABET overhauled its engineering criteria over the course of “The ABET member societies have had dramatic the 1990s, resulting in the adoption of a new influence on program criteria. So in our case, we outcomes-based framework known as Engineering have unfortunately seen explosions in petroleum Criteria 2000 (EC2000) in 1997. EC2000 changed manufacturing, we have explosions in chemical the focus of accreditation from what universities manufacturing and that in turn came back and were teaching to what students were learning — a [translated to] the program criteria for our shift from inputs to outputs. The new framework discipline that required the students to have still required students to have foundational extensive preparation related to the safety and knowledge in science and math, but also included hazards associated with chemical processes,” she a focus on soft skills, such as critical thinking, said. communication and teamwork. 1 https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/20190926-Boeing 2 Steven Lingafelt (top-right) serves as co-Team Chair on an ABET accreditation visit. Being able to influence program criteria — and, currently chaired by Clausen. “Leaders from a ultimately, students’ educational experiences and broad spectrum of industries [come] together readiness to enter the workforce — was exactly to discuss what the trends are in their various why Bret Clausen, former Global Director of Health industrial sectors, what the needs are [and] where and Safety Talent and Technical Services for CH2M, they’re seeing shortcomings in new hires,” said wanted to get involved with ABET accreditation. A Clausen. “Having folks that are actively working former ABET board member, he has been a hiring in industry, who are on the cutting edge of what’s manager for most of his career, hiring both entry- happening and what’s developing in a variety of level and experienced professionals in industrial industries...is extremely valuable insight.” hygiene and safety. “The more I was doing it, the more I was getting frustrated because there was The IAC represents industries ranging from such a variability in the fundamental quality of information technology and computer science to graduates,” Clausen said. “Just because they came shipbuilding and petroleum engineering. When out of a reputable program doesn’t mean they had Janice Zdankus, Vice President of the Enterprise that same baseline of capability. I wanted to have Group at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IAC the opportunity to work with the professional member, was invited to join the IAC, she welcomed organizations and with ABET to make sure we were the opportunity to provide an industry perspective keeping an eye to the future.” on the accreditation process — a prospect that has the potential to help STEM programs adapt to evolving workforce needs. The Role of the Industry Advisory Council “I have seen curriculum evolve based upon how jobs are changing. For example, back in the 1990s, The Industry Advisory Council,