Accrediting Engineering Degrees: Practice and Challenges

Richard Shearman Director of Formation

regulating the engineering profession

The UK engineering profession

• 36 professional bodies – vary in size and history • Own requirements for membership • Common framework provided by UK-SPEC and ECUK register of CEng, IEng and EngTech • 21 accredit HE programmes • Not compulsory to join or register with ECUK to work as engineer – but c. 5k new registrants p.a.

regulating the engineering profession

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Engineering Council (UK)

• National Registration Body for Chartered Engineers, Incorporated Engineers and Engineering Technicians • Sets standards for professional qualification and registration (UK-SPEC) • Sets criteria for accreditation of HE programmes • Licenses professional bodies to accredit programmes and assess and register individuals • QA function linked to licensing • Maintains database of accredited programmes • Signatory to international accords regulating the engineering profession

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The value of accreditation

• Establishes a standard • Constructive engagement between profession and HE • Share good practice • Aid development and innovation • Kitemark and third party validation for HEI • Helps graduate/professional mobility • Simplifies qualification process regulating the engineering profession

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Accreditation - History

• Began in 1960s and 1970s • A different HE scene • Predates national QA arrangements for universities • Steady shift from input to output • Can the accreditation process remain adaptable?

regulating the engineering profession

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Accreditation: key current features

• ECUK sets and maintains standards • Outcomes-based accreditation • Distributed system of accreditation • Distinct from the UK’s HE quality assurance system • Uses qualifications framework and descriptors as reference points • International recognition regulating the engineering profession

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Current accreditation arrangements

• Peer review by volunteers • Written submission and visit • Scrutiny of student work, exam papers etc • Meet with students and staff • The programme not the institution • Rigour and demands are balanced regulating the engineering profession

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Requirements for accreditation

• Focus on outcomes, not curriculum • All graduates achieve all learning outcomes • Clear programme aims, outcomes, assessment • Evidence of industrial liaison • Sufficient content at B or M level • Adequately resourced regulating the engineering profession

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What about input measures?

• • A number are considered including: - Learning and teaching processes - Department/School/Faculty organisation - Human and material resources - Cohort entry profile - Staff experience and professional status These are indicators, not metrics or showstoppers regulating the engineering profession

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The output standards

• Four general learning outcomes - Knowledge & Understanding, Intellectual Abilities, Practical Skills, General Transferable Skills • Five Specific Learning Outcomes - Underpinning Science and Maths, Engineering Analysis, Design, Economic, Social and Environmental Context, Engineering Practice • More detailed statements describe each of these • Now adopted by QAA as subject benchmark regulating the engineering profession

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International Context

• Washington & Sydney Accords allow mutual recognition of accreditation decisions • Graduate Attributes framework developed but several signatories are process-orientated • Washington Accord verification visit to UK revealed differences in approach • In Europe, EURACE framework for engineering accreditation • More countries showing interest in accreditation (China, Russia) regulating the engineering profession

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Sharing good practice

• Between professional bodies and between universities • EAB is key to former – forum for discussion, organises joint visits, common documentation etc • Websites, annual reports etc can highlight university good practice • Engineering Subject Centre, EPC also have vital role regulating the engineering profession

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The changing landscape

• UK demographics: less homogeneous cohorts • Development of higher level skills • Changing employer demands • New forms of provision • Increasing number of multidisciplinary programmes regulating the engineering profession

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Some challenges for accreditation

• Giving due recognition to work-based elements • Who is responsible for assessment?

• Assuring level and standards in new forms of provision • More individually tailored programmes – resourcing • Longer completion periods • Encouraging cultural shift - accreditors and others • Monitoring programme change • Spreading innovation and improvement regulating the engineering profession

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Distance Learning

• Achieving learning outcomes that are normally demonstrated in a laboratory • Module choice resulting in individually tailored and/or limited programme scope • Robustness of student support systems • Open-ended nature and long completion periods • The engineering employer’s role?

regulating the engineering profession

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The way ahead?

• Changes tend to be in inputs rather than in outcomes • Current accreditation processes are applicable • Mechanisms to bring employers more fully into the process • Dialogue between all: universities, professional bodies and employers regulating the engineering profession

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