Accreditation issues in electrical engineering curriculum: a comparative case study

Currently, there are more than 300 undergraduate engineering programs in the USA accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET). Since its inception as the Engineers´ Council for Professional Development (ECPD) in 1932, this body has primary responsibility for monitoring, evaluating, and certifying the quality of engineering education programs in the USA. In this paper, a brief history and the purpose of ABET are given to familiarize the reader with the accreditation practice in the USA. The process of the accreditation cycle is then described in detail based on the literature ABET publishes and the visits that one such engineering education program in the USA went through over the years