ABET Pilot - International Accreditation

ABET

Based on request of Universities and Institutes overseas to accredit their programs by ABET and insure fairness in advertising.
Abet is evaluating international programs already.
Now ABET will begin accredit programs in countries that are not members of Washington accord and with approval of the country agency/ministry responsible for accreditation.

 

ABET has historically insisted that they not accredit foreign programs; they only determine if such programs ars "substantially equivalent":

Well, it always sounded a lot like "accreditation" to me. I've heard that the only reason ABET avoided the term "accreditation" in the past is that they didn't want it to look as though they were invading the turf of foreign regulatory and accreditation bodies.

In practice, I don't think the change from "substantially equivalent" to "accredited" will be a big difference. It may make it easier for graduates of foreign schools to have their educational credentials accepted by US licensing boards.

The "substantially equivalent" foreign programs are listed here. Most are in Mexico, Turkey, or the Middle East.