Case Study: Professional Bodies and Accreditation in the USA

The United States possesses a range of professional engineering societies comparable to that in the UK. In particular, there are two organizations that carry out many of the functions performed by the IEE and the BCS in the UK. The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) may be thought of as comparable to the BCS, while the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) compares loosely with the IEE, its Computer Society corresponding to the IEE’s Informatics Division. Both the IEEE and the ACM publish a range of journals covering theory and practice in all aspects of IT; they are the most prestigious and the most widely read of academic and professional publications in the field. The IEEE Computer Society and the ACM collaborate extensively on matters connected with the software engineering profession, through joint committees and task forces. The IEEE-ACM Joint Steering Committee for the Establishment of Software Engineering as a Profession, meeting from 1993 to 1998, was the primary force that led to the Texas board’s decision to register software engineers.

Accreditation of engineering courses in the United States is only indirectly a matter for professional bodies. Instead, it is undertaken by a body called the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). ABET is a federation of 28 professional engineering and technical societies. So long as software engineering was not regarded as an engineering discipline from the point of view of registration, it was not considered to fall within ABET’s remit. Instead, courses in computer science and software engineering were considered by the Computer Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB); this is a body set up jointly by the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society. In 1998, an agreement was reached between ABET and CSAB, leading to the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society becoming part of the ABET federation and to the CSAB becoming a constituent part of ABET. American licensing and accreditation practice in engineering requires the definition of a “body of knowledge” that registered practitioners must possess. The IEEE-CS and the ACM are also working together to produce a definition of this.

Read the above case study carefully and mention the answer against each question in the following table.

Q 1. Who is responsible for accreditation of engineering courses in the United States? 

Q 2. Which professional engineering society in the United States is comparable to the BCS in the UK? 

Q 3. Prior to 1998, which organization was responsible for accrediting courses in computer science and software engineering? 

Q 4. What led to the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society becoming part of the ABET federation?

Q 5. What are the two organizations in the United States that are comparable to the IEE and the BCS in the UK? 

Solution:

Q1. Who is responsible for accreditation of engineering courses in the United States?

A1. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) is responsible for the accreditation of engineering courses in the United States.

Q2. Which professional engineering society in the United States is comparable to the BCS in the UK?

A2. The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is comparable to the BCS in the UK.

Q3. Prior to 1998, which organization was responsible for accrediting courses in computer science and software engineering?

A3. Prior to 1998, the Computer Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB) was responsible for accrediting courses in computer science and software engineering.

Q4. What led to the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society becoming part of the ABET federation?

A4. An agreement was reached between ABET and CSAB in 1998, leading to the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society becoming part of the ABET federation and to the CSAB becoming a constituent part of ABET.

Q5. What are the two organizations in the United States that are comparable to the IEE and the BCS in the UK?

A5. The Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) are the two organizations in the United States that are comparable to the IEE and the BCS in the UK.