Deborah Wolfe, P.Eng.July 18, 2008

Engineering Accreditation

Today’s Presentation

• Introduction

• Collaboration between Canada and Costa Rica

• Engineering for the Americas

• Caribbean Project

• Questions

Engineers Canada Federation of 12 provincial and territorial

engineering regulators Represents the profession at the national

and international levels Accredits university engineering

educational programs Prepares national criteria and guidelines

Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board

• Created by Engineers Canada in 1965

• Membership:» 15 volunteers, all ing./P.Eng.» Range of disciplines and backgrounds from across

Canada» Rely on specialist volunteers during program evaluation

visits

• Main Responsibilities» Identify programs whose graduates are prepared to

enter the profession of engineering » Develop accreditation criteria, processes, procedures» Quality assurance » Continuous improvement

Accreditation: Results

• Over 250 accredited programs• 40 post-secondary institutions

• Over 70 fields of study

• 55,000 students

• 10,500 graduates per year

Collaboration between Canada and Costa Rica

1993 - present

How did it start?

February 1993:CFIA and the School of Engineering of the University of Costa Rica (UCR), organized the first Pan American Symposium on the evaluation and accreditation of the engineering programs, under the sponsorship of UPADI. This seminar was attended by CEAB members.

Canadian engineers, ABET, started a CIDA funded project for the accreditation of engineering programs in Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru with the objective to:

Assist in the creation and promotion of national accreditation systems in five Latin American nations, thus providing the basis and expertise to create the accreditation systems for the engineering programs in all Latin American countries.

Each country followed its own path in their accreditation processes.

Only Costa Rica maintained close liaison with CEAB.

January 1994

A Workshop was held to prepare the first version of the guidelines for the accreditation of engineering and architectural programs

The final document of this Workshop proved to be essential for all the subsequent versions of the accreditation criteria in Costa Rica.

In addition, in 1997 the CFIA approved the creation of the Accreditation Commission, in charge of establishing a specialized accreditation agency for engineering and architecture.

November 1996

At the request of the CFIA, a pilot project was implemented for the evaluation of the Civil Engineering program at the University of Costa Rica by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board.

UCR’s Civil Engineering Program was deemed substantially equivalent to a CEAB accredited program in 1999.

Discussions in Canada during this time frame resulted in a commitment to assist Costa Rica with developing their own accreditation system

September 1998

Substantially Equivalent Programs

Universidad de Costa Rica Civil Engineering Electrical Engineering Industrial Engineering

Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica Construction Engineering Electronics Engineering Industrial Maintenance Engineering Industrial Production Engineering

2004: CFIA and SINAES (Costa Rican National Accreditation System)

signed a joint cooperation agreement. SINAES was created in 1999 at the initiative of Costa Rican universities and was officially recognized in 2002.

2005: An addendum to this agreement sets forth the two accreditation

initiatives (CFIA-SINAES), and establishes the AAPIA (Accreditation Agency for the Engineering and Architecture Study Programs).

AAPIA is based on CEAB’s accreditation criteria and procedures for Engineering study programs and these, in turn, are complemented with additional national criteria.

In Costa Rica

For the first time, AAPIA-SINAES invited all the Engineering and Architecture study programs to participate in the accreditation processes.

The first evaluation visit shall take place in September.

The work started in 1993 is coming to fruition!

2008

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Canadian Engineers and the CFIA laying out our future relationship and continue cooperation.

The participation of the CEAB members is anticipated during the first evaluation visit of AAPIA-SINAES.

Intent to negotiate a mutual recognition agreement, once the Costa Rican accreditation model has been fully implemented.

Future Plans