V. Peter Pitts, M.A.
I always like learning something new. I have noticed an increase in the number of
excellent small 4 year private liberal arts colleges (with very strong math and science programs) that have added engineering majors to their curriculum. Many of them do not currently have ABET accreditation. I know how important ABET accreditation is. But before you scratch a college off your list because they do not, at this moment, have ABET accreditation, you need to ask them these questions:
1) Are you seeking ABET accreditation?
2) When do you expect or did you have your first graduates?
3) Have you submitted a readiness report?
4) Have you submitted a self-study?
5) Have you had an ABET accreditation on-campus visit?
6) When do you expect to learn the result of seeking accreditation?
I was corresponding with an engineering professor at a small liberal arts college about ABET accreditation, and I learned a lot. Let me quote this professor:
“You may not seek ABET accreditation until AFTER you have your first graduates. Upon graduating your first graduates, you may apply for ABET accreditation. The ABET accreditation process begins then with a “Readiness Report”—this is a report to ABET to evaluate if you are ready to write the full accreditation report. This is really about whether or not you are far enough along to actually write the full self-study. If ABET reviews your Readiness report and says that you are ready to seek accreditation with a the full self-study, you write the full self-study that addresses the current criteria for accreditation for the program type you have. ABET forms a review team that reviews the written report and communicates with the program about questions, etc. The team then visits campus and during the in-person visit, meets with many people to review the program.
“After the team departs, there is a series of exchanges about what the team found, communicating what needs to be improved, etc. A formal vote follows a full report months later. Finally, usually in July, a full vote is taken and the program is accredited if it has satisfied the criteria and responded to the requests for improvement. The program is either accredited or not accredited. There is no “level of accreditation." Upon accreditation, the accreditation is retroactive to include those first graduates, who WILL be able to say that they graduated from an accredited program.
“Because of this procedure, the discussion is probably much more nuanced than not including [in the college search] programs that are not accredited.”
[Note: As of October 1, 2024, ABET accredits a total of 4,773 programs at 930 colleges and universities in 42 countries and regions worldwide. In 2023 they added 110 programs at 25 colleges. So far, in 2024, they have added 99 programs at 10 colleges. This is an ongoing process. It is not static. ABET accreditation also needs to be renewed every 7 years. It is an expensive and time-consuming process.]
According to this engineering professor, most colleges who aggressively pursue ABET accreditation are eventually successful in doing so. It is important to have that accreditation.
So, if you really like the college and their science programs, don’t automatically scratch a college off your list just based on their current ABET status. Most of these colleges also (in addition to their own engineering programs) have 3+2 or 4+1 arrangements with large, well-known universities (such as Washington University, Columbia University, Duke, Notre Dame, and Case Western Reserve) that are ABET-accredited. Plus, they tend to have robust internship programs with well-known engineering firms and summer research opportunities at major ABET-accredited universities.
These small colleges also tend to admit a wider range of students (academically), which gives more students a chance to achieve their dream of becoming an engineer.
In addition to offering a very personalized and individualized education with tons of research and internship opportunities, most of these small colleges also tend to offer a lot of merit-based assistance to make college more affordable.
Please do not be too quick to scratch them off your list.
Comments