Accreditation of academic programmes in computing in South Africa

Abstract

Over the past two decades, strong technical convergence has been observed between computing and engineering. Computing in this context includes Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology and Software Engineering. Within the traditional engineering disciplines (including Computer Engineering), academic programme accreditation is well established, but most academic computing programmes in South Africa are still unaccredited. Those that are accredited were reviewed by accreditation agencies from other countries (US, UK). The convergence between computing and engineering opened the debate and accentuated the need for accreditation within the wider computing profession in South Africa.