All this and engineering too: a history of accreditation requirements

Abstract

This article traces the history of US engineering accreditation with regard to non-technical curriculum requirements from the founding of the Engineers' Council for Professional Development (ECPD) in 1932 up to the adoption of Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC 2000) in 1999. The activities of the ECPD, which became the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, ABET, in 1980, took place in the larger context of the development of engineering as a profession and steps that industrial and academic leaders took during the 20th century to increase the quality and uniformity of engineering education. The story is not a simple, straightforward tale of how a homogeneous pro-business cadre of engineering educators designed a system of education for purely pragmatic ends. Buried in the volumes of old journals and annual reports is evidence that engineering educators and leaders indulged in a serious amount of organized introspection over the years.