Establishing Engineering Accreditation Systems in Costa Rica and the Caribbean

1. Establishing Engineering Accreditation Systems in Costa Rica and the Caribbean As presented to the Global Colloquium on Engineering Education Deborah Wolfe, P.Eng. October 2008

2. Today’s Presentation • Introduction • Collaboration between Canada and Costa Rica • Caribbean Project • Questions

3. Engineers Canada • National Association 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

4. 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

5. Accreditation: Results • Over 250 accredited programs • 40 post-secondary institutions • Over 70 fields of study • 55,000 students • 10,500 graduates per year

6. Collaboration between Canada and Costa Rica1993 - present

7. How did it start? February 1993: Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos de Costa Rica (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.

8. Canadian engineers, with participation by 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. Costa Rica maintained close liaison with CEAB. January 1994

9. A Workshop was held in Costa Rica 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Greater Caribbean Basin Regional Engineering Accreditation Project

16. REAS • IDB Regional Public Goods 2006:The Inter-American Development Bank created a new funding envelop to encourage countries to come together to work on regional issues. • People involved in Engineering for the Americas facilitated the writing of a project proposal for a Regional Engineering Accreditation System in the Greater Caribbean and committed to in kind support of project, if approved

17. REAS • Regional project between Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Panama – Requires Government Commitment by Ministers (other countries can join as project moves forward) • Financial contribution from IDB and in kind contributions from project participants • Involves Industry and Accreditation Agency sponsors • Project office at INTEC, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

18. REAS • IDB Granted funds to INTEC as Executing Agency for REAS to: • Establish the project plan • Create REAS organization and infrastructure • Support the work in the three partner countries • Establish, and promote adoption of, engineering accreditation standards based on extensive research of existing systems worldwide • Develop Training Tools and run pilot accreditation • All of the above will be bilingual (Spanish and English)

19. www.engineerscanada.ca ceab@engineerscanada.ca Muchas GraciasThank YouMerci