ABET Accreditation

 

Accreditation of engineering and computing programs ensures that the programs produce graduates who are prepared to meet the expectations of employers, the public or pursue further study in engineering or other fields.

The Texas Tech Civil, Electrical and Mechanical engineering programs were initially accredited in 1937, at the same time as were programs at many well-known public institutions such as Iowa State, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia Tech, as well as private institutions such as Caltech, MIT, and Stanford.

Computing, Engineering, Applied and Natural Science, and Engineering Technology programs are accredited by ABET, www.abet.org, and ABET in conjunction with the various professional societies develop the criteria for accrediting the programs.

Currently, the Chemical, Civil, Computer, Construction, Electrical, Industrial, Mechanical and Petroleum Engineering undergraduate programs and the Environmental Engineering masters program are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, www.abet.org. The Computer Science undergraduate program is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, www.abet.org.

One component of the accreditation criteria requires each program pursuing accreditation to formulate Program Educational Objectives in consultation with their program-defined constituents. ABET defines Program Educational Objectives as “broad statements that describe what graduates are expected to attain within a few years after graduation.”

Another component of ABET accreditation requires programs specify Student Outcomes, which “describe what students are expected to know and be able to do by the time of graduation. These relate to skills, knowledge, and behaviors that students acquire as they progress through the program.”

ABET is committed to Continuous Improvement and all programs must assess and evaluate the extent to which their Student Outcomes are being attained and use the results of these evaluations for the continuous improvement of the program.

ABET requires that each program make available to the public certain information, namely their Program Educational Objectives, their Student Outcomes, their accreditation status and data on their student enrollments and degrees granted. This information for the accredited programs offered by the Whitacre College of Engineering are published at the following locations: