All U.S. engineering programs, except those with outstanding conventional criteria issues (show cause or interim evaluations) should now be on board with Engineering Criteria 2000. As of Fall, 2001, these are now the standard for accreditation, yet institutions are still at varying levels of preparedness and willingness to be evaluated under these criteria. This paper summarizes the observations I have made on the EC2000 transition process both from the program's and ABET's perspectives. Information from EC2000 visits, ABET reports, workshops, and discussions in the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET have contributed to these observations. The focus of this paper is mainly on Criterion 3 issues, with some commentary on Criterion 2 and Criterion 4. These three criteria are the focus of most discussion in journal articles, workshops, conferences, team visits, and ABET training. The other five criteria are more familiar and are more routinely part of current practice in engineering programs. The purpose of this paper is to make observations and sensitize readers to commonly observed problems in the implementation of EC2000 within engineering programs and within ABET. The purpose is not to offer solutions to all the problems, but specific suggestions are provided in some instances.
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