ABET Engineering Criteria 2000: A guarantor of quality

This dissertation examines the effects of new accreditation standards in engineering education on the development of internal continuous quality improvement (CQI) systems. This research involved 25 programs that were among the first to undergo accreditation visits, based on the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology's Engineering Criteria 2000 implemented in 1998. The analysis investigates the elements of CQI systems that were introduced to meet the new requirements, and examines the likelihood that the emerging systems will produce substantive results linked to the quality of educational provision in the programs studied. Using a framework of quality principles (Freed et al., 1997), each element of the CQI systems was analyzed to determine if critical characteristics had emerged that would support an accreditation decision based on the existence of such systems.;The research for this dissertation demonstrated the following: (1) ABET 2000 produced some positive results in terms of focusing attention on undergraduate education, student outcomes and the combined effects of a program's curriculum. (2) Most quality-systems implemented by the programs lacked many of the critical elements that would lead to substantive effects on the quality of undergraduate education including adequate professional development, funding, and leadership. (3) A compliance orientation among participants limited the introduction of quality principles and reduced ownership among the faculty. (4) The requirement that all programs assess a set of predefined outcomes subverted the process and limited its utility to individual programs. (5) The value/utility of the quality-systems relied on the dedication of a small core of faculty committed to the process. (6) Overall 20% of faculty was committed to the CQI paradigm, 50% was waiting to see how well supported, rewarded and useful the new processes are, and 30% considered it a waste of time. (7) There was little confidence that the formal systems of assessment implemented to meet ABET 2000 criteria would provide important new information not already a part of the decision-making process.;While the ABET 2000 criteria promoted conversations about student outcomes, programmatic objectives, and undergraduate education in general, this research indicates that the main effects were related to the intense activity just prior to the ABET visit, and that the systems implemented in response to the new criteria lacked critical elements that would make them an appropriate criteria for accreditation decisions. Several policy suggestions are presented. However, there is considerable evidence that until faculty see CQI as an important tool addressing a commonly perceived need to improve undergraduate education in their programs it will not gain the level of participation and support required to have a substantive effect on the quality of education.