“we excel to promote IT education”
What is Accreditation?
In Higher Education (HE), accreditation plays a major role in maintaining the quality assurance of institutions, programs and their educational effectiveness. Accreditation is defined as: "A process for verifying or approving a higher education programme, or provider, by an authorised external organisation. " (QAA, 2016)
The accreditation external body uses a set of agreed standards to evaluate the institutions quality and/or their programs effectiveness. Once they meet the required standards, accreditation is provided. Accreditation has two main types: (a) institutional level, and (b) programs level. The institutional level evaluates the entire institution, whereas the programs level is more discipline-based evaluation.
Why Accreditation?
Accreditation matters for the following (ABET, 2020):
- Students:
- Verifies that your educational experience meets the global standard for technical education in your profession.
- Enhances your employment opportunities—multinational corporations require graduation from an accredited program.
- Supports your entry to a technical profession through licensure, registration, and certification—all of which often require graduation from an ABET-accredited program as a minimum qualification.
- Establishes your eligibility for many federal student loans, grants, and/or scholarships.
- Paves the way for you to work globally, because ABET accreditation is recognized worldwide through international agreements, and many other countries’ national accrediting systems are based on the ABET model.
- Program & Institution:
- Has received international recognition of its quality.
- Promotes “best practices” in education.
- Directly involves faculty and staff in self-assessment and continuous quality improvement processes.
- Is based on “learning outcomes,” rather than “teaching inputs.”
- Can more easily determine the acceptability of transfer credits.
- Industry, Government & the World:
- Ensures that graduates have met the educational requirements necessary to enter the profession.
- Provides opportunities for the industry to guide the educational process to reflect current and future needs.
- Enhances the mobility of professionals.
- Ensure that the graduates of ABET-accredited programs can employ their talents internationally.
The college of CIT is preparing to apply for accreditation of its programs as follows:
