Engineering: issues, challenges and opportunities for development ...

ENGINEERING CAPACITY: EDUCATION, TRAINING AND MOBILITYSome further observations are vital: the EUR-ACE frameworkdeals exclusively with the accreditation of engineering programmesand is explicitly not concerned with the accreditationof technologist or technician programmes (short-cycleprogrammes). By the same token, it is not concerned with anyform of institutional evaluations. Moreover, it does (at leastthus far) not distinguish between branches (engineering disciplinesor specializations).The EUR-ACE standards have been designed for the accreditationof educational programmes as a suitable ‘entry route tothe engineering profession’. It is before that background thatFEANI, as the representative body of more than 3.5 millionengineers, has contributed to this project and has acceptedEUR-ACE accreditation as the basis for inclusion in theirindexes for professional engineers.Overall, the EUR-ACE standards appear flexible enough toaccommodate national and subject differences and to leavethe door open to future developments so that the proposedaccreditation standards will not become a straightjacket butrather an incentive to make improvements through incorporatingbest practice.Vision for the futureThe common vision for the future is a world class Europeanaccreditation framework for engineering education to fosteracademic and professional mobility in the European HigherEducation Area as well as the European labour market. It isfurthermore hoped that the ENAEE and the EUR-ACE systemwill be closely connected to other international frameworksand mutual recognition agreements developed in theAmericas, Asia and Africa. By interlinking such endeavours, wewill have an important capability to foster the internationalacademic and professional mobility of engineers that is socrucial for global development.© ARUP365