Preparing For The First Abet Accreditation Visit Under Criteria 2000

Many aspects of the preparation for an ABET accreditation visit under Criteria 2000 will be the same as under the traditional criteria. Forms must be filled out; student work must be gathered, organized, and exhibited; course notes and syllabi must be organized for exhibit; the faculty must educate themselves to the process; and the evaluator must be treated respectfully while he or she is on campus. In the traditional process, if a program was well conceived and administered, adhered to a traditional and well established model for its curriculum, maintained well equipped laboratories, and was well funded, the preparation was aimed at showing the evaluator that those things were true. Preparation could be accomplished in a spring and a summer. For Criteria 2000, however, some non-traditional expectations have been added which make the preparation for a visit a bit more demanding. That preparation may now require several years and should be considered to be a continuous process.