July 2011


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Accrediting Engineering

The new Caribbean Accreditation Council for Engineering and Technology (CACET) had its first engineering accreditation visit to the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at The UWI St. Augustine Campus in May. This Department graduated 62 students last year.

The Mechanical and Civil Engineering Departments are expected to have CACET accreditation visits later this year or in early 2012.

Accreditation signifies that a programme maintains standards that qualify its graduates for professional practice or for admission to higher institutions of learning. Typically, it can take as long as a decade to set up a new accreditation system for a country or region, but CACET did it in just three years.

CACET and its work were endorsed in February by CARICOM, which, as one of its mandates, is responsible for establishing standards and measures for accreditation, and for mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates, and other qualifications for various professions, including engineering. The CARICOM endorsement means that CACET is the preferred accrediting body for engineering and technology programmes.

Organizing an accreditation system was the brainchild in 2007 of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) members employed by The UWI, along with the chair of the IEEE Trinidad and Tobago Section, Prof Chandrabhan Sharma. Also included were IEEE Member Prof Brian Copeland, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, and Clement Imbert, the deputy Dean.

“We wanted to ensure the quality of the region’s engineering and technology programmes,” says Sharma, who led the effort to establish CACET and is now its president.

CACET’s accreditation visit to The UWI coincided with a visit by the Institution of Chemical Engineers. IChemE, an international professional membership organization headquartered in London, had been accrediting that programme for 20 years

“The British institutions that have historically provided accreditation in the Caribbean are very far away and very expensive to retain,” Sharma said. “There also was a proliferation in the Caribbean of new businesses offering engineering and technology programmes, so it was essential that the region have a group that could provide independent reviews of the programme’s quality.”

This article was adapted from an article written by Kathy Kowalenko for The Institute, an IEEE newsletter.