ABET (pronounced A-bet), formerly known as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc., is a non-governmental accreditation organization for post-secondary programs in engineering, engineering technology, computing, and applied and natural sciences.
History
In 1932, ABET was established as the American Engineers' Council for Professional Development (ECPD). The organization evaluated its first engineering program in 1936, and by 1947, 580 programs had been accredited across 133 institutions.
In 1980, the ECPD changed its name to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. In 1985, the organization helped establish the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB), one of ABET's largest member societies with over 300 programs.
Each program is assigned to one of four accreditation commissions within ABET based on the title. Each commission has different accreditation criteria:
- Applied and Natural Science Accreditation Commission (ANSAC)
- Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC)
- Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC)
- Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC)
Programs conduct an internal evaluation and complete a self-study report documenting how well the program is meeting established accreditation criteria.
Members
ABET is a federation of the following professional and technical member societies representing the fields of applied science, computing, engineering and engineering technology:
- American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES)
- American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA)
- American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
- American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
- American Nuclear Society (ANS)
- American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE)
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
- American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
- American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
- American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP)
- American Welding Society (AWS)
- Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI)
- Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES)
- Construction Management Association of America (CMAA)
- Computing Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB)
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE)
- International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)
- International Society of Automation (ISA)
- Materials Research Society (MRS)
- National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES)
- National Institute of Ceramic Engineers (NICE) of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS)
- National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
- National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS)
- SAE International
- Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE)
- Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME)
- Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME)
- Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME)
- Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)
- Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
- Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
- The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS)
- Women in Engineering Proactive Network (WEPAN)
EC 2000
For most of its history, ABET's accreditation criteria specifically outlined the major elements that accredited engineering programs must have, including the program curricula, the faculty type and the facilities. However, in the mid-1990s, the engineering community began to question the appropriateness of such rigid accreditation requirements.
After intense discussion, in 1997, ABET adopted Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC2000).
Licensing and credentialing
To become a licensed professional engineer, one common prerequisite is graduation from an Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET-accredited program. Requirements for professional engineer testing for EAC accredited programs vary from state to state.
The Engineering Credential Evaluation International (ECEI) was established in 1997 as the credential evaluation service of ABET. ECEI specialized in the evaluation of degrees in engineering, engineering technology, computer science and surveying from outside the U.S. ECEI stopped accepting applications for credentials evaluation; a business decision made by the ABET board of directors.