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University course accreditation; its benefits and importance

We spoke to senior IET accreditation coordinator Jane Black about the importance of choosing an IET accredited degree course, what the benefits to students are, and what the actual accreditation process entails…

Jane Black is a senior accreditation coordinator at the IET, and some of her duties are to ensure that the IET’s accreditation’s process runs smoothly, that all accreditation volunteers are trained and that the submission documentation is reviewed and that we are asking the right questions. She works closely with departments who are submitting an application for accreditation and with our accreditation volunteers.   

“My day to day job is different from most administrative roles, nothing is overly repetitive and mundane and I get to interact with some of the sharpest minds out there,” she says. “I have sat in meetings, and had lunch, with ministers, professors, leading industrialists and internationally recognised researchers. Even more satisfying is that they listen to me and respect my opinion on IET accreditation. I would say the best part of my job is that I get to travel (but just the right amount of travel) and in particular overseas. As far as interesting stories, I have plenty but I have promised to take these to my grave…”

When it comes to Accreditation of University programmes, these could be described as an audit or check to benchmark the standards of each course against similar ones throughout the UK and Internationally. Ask any Department who has recently undergone an accreditation visit and they will tell you that it is not just a case of ticking a few boxes, it does require some work.

In order to become accredited the department will have to meet the IET criteria, which is based on the requirements of the Engineering Council UK. The types of things we look at are projects, staffing, recourses, quality assurance, student support and most importantly the programmes structure and technical depth.

“We visit the department for about 1 ½ days; we meet the staff, see the facilities and meet the students etc,” says Jane.

“Each University department will decide what programmes they want to put forward for accreditation, and it is up to the University to decide which institutions they go to. The IET works closely with other institutions on joint visits etc. The programmes that we cover will be from the traditional Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Computer Engineering, Manufacturing, Aerospace, Mechanical through to Motorsport Engineering, Biomedical and Nanotechnology. We also cover undergraduate programmes aimed at Incorporated Engineer and Chartered Engineer, we also look at Postgraduate programmes such as MSc’s.  Our Panels usually consist of four Volunteers (three academics and one industrialist) and one staff member to ensure the process runs smoothly.”

There are lots of areas that are considered, and some of the most important include considering the support for students, what resources are available and what expenditure is planned.

“We also ask about the staff – academic, technician and administrative, we ask about the research and consultation carried out within the Department and we want to see examples of where this has influenced the programmes. Industrial input to the programmes is also important, again we like to see where this has influenced the programmes.  We see examples of projects, examination papers, coursework and quality assurance documentation…” Jane continues.

The benefits to students are simple:

- They know that their course is similar to others within the UK and Internationally

- They can travel/move to other countries with their degree far easier

- It helps when you want to become a registered engineering (either for IEng or CEng)

- Some employers will want students with an accredited programme

- They will know that their programme has been peer assessed and that the department cares about their future too.

“Accreditation is important for all the reasons above, it also helps to departments to know what is happening in other departments and spread good practice,” Jane concludes.