IABEE unanimously voted as Provisional Signatory Member of the Washington Accord
Delegates of IABEE, JABEE, and ABET at the 2019 International Engineering Alliance Meeting in Hong Kong
Since its early phase of development in 2013, IABEE has been projected to become a member of the Washington Accord (WA), which is a multilateral agreement among bodies in charge of engineering higher education accreditation that recognize substantial equivalency of the accredited programs among its members. To date, WA has 20 member jurisdictions as signatories and 8 as provisional signatories.
June 12, 2019 saw a historical milestone of IABEE’s journey. During the Washington Accord (WA) Closed Session meeting conducted in the occasion of the International Engineering Alliance (IEA) Annual Meeting in Hong Kong, IABEE was unanimously accepted as WA Provisional Signatory Member. Nomination letters of IABEE for WA provisional status was provided by JABEE of Japan and ABET of USA. As soon as the provisional status was granted, IABEE expressed its intention to become WA signatory member in 2021.
IABEE also participated in Seoul Accord meeting, which was also held during the 2019 IEA Meeting. Seoul Accord is a multilateral agreement similar to WA for accreditation at international level of computing programs. During the meeting, IABEE expressed its wish to join the accord as soon as possible, after WA signatory status has been achieved.
Having accepted as provisional signatory member, IABEE operations in Indonesia as its jurisdiction started to get international recognition. Although the substantial equivalence recognition for programs and graduates of programs accredited by IABEE could only be granted by the Washington Accord in June 2020 the soonest (given IABEE signatory status is granted in June 2021), some WA member countries have recognized the value of IABEE accreditation to Indonesian engineering programs. Right after the provisional status was granted, IABEE tied a common understanding with JABEE and ABET. JABEE and ABET understand that it is the right of an institution to seek accreditation for its programs from any accreditation board. However, both agencies also understand the value of IABEE accreditation, which is the best for Indonesian engineering programs. Therefore, both are in agreement that any new application from Indonesian engineering programs seeking for accreditation to JABEE and ABET would be directed to IABEE.