(1315)SUCCESS FACTORS IN THE ACCREDITATION PROCESS OF ANENGINEERING PROGRAM

摘要

The Universidad Veracruzana (UV) is one of the largest public universities in Mexico and isrecognized by its leadership regarding the quality and innovation in the academic programs it offers. Ina globalized environment, economic agreements and treaties between countries transcend to the fieldof higher education, raising the need to establish mechanisms to homologate quality standards forevaluating educational programs. In Mexico, the instances that directly relate to the evaluation ofengineering programs are the Comites Interinstitucionales para la Evaluacion de la EducacionSuperior, A.C. (CIEES) and the Consejo de Acreditacion de la Ensenanza de la Ingenieria, A.C.(CACEI).Accreditation of engineering programs is granted only by CACEI;;it is valid for 5 years and is awardedto the academic program, not the institution, which means that if a given institution offers the sameprogram in different campuses, the program may be accredited for one campus, but not necessarilyfor other campuses of the same institution. This accreditation status is recognized by the membercountries of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).The academic program of Electronics and Communications Engineering (IEC by its name in Spanish)has been offered in the Faculty of Engineering campus Veracruz, of the Universidad Veracruzana,since september 1994 and has an average enrollment of 250 students. Today, the IEC program is oneof three programs accredited by CACEI in this academic entity of the UV.This document presents information that may be considered relevant in terms of the processes thatwere conducted in order to bring the program to an operating state in which it was evaluated andaccredited. The authors participated actively in the process and wish to contribute to the disseminationof information that could lead to colleagues from other academic institutions to achieve similar goals.