IEET's Mentoring of Myanmar in Engineering Accreditation System

摘要

Institute of Engineering Education Taiwan (IEET), the accreditation agency for engineering and technological education in Taiwan, is a signatory of the Washington, Sydney, and Seoul accords. It was invited to be a mentor for Myanmar Engineering Society (MES) in its development of engineering education accreditation system in 2013. During the past three years, IEET has helped the Myanmar, eventually the Myanmar Engineering Council (MEngC), develop engineering education accreditation system. In October 2015, MEngC launched its very first accreditation review at eight programs in the Yangon Technological University (YTU), which is the flagship engineering institution in Myanmar. This historical event marked the country's yet another milestone toward internationalization of higher education. This paper is to record the process and outcomes of the mentoring. IEET became signatory of the Washington Accord in 2007, Seoul Accord in 2009, and Sydney Accord in 2014, respectively. Over the past twelve years, IEET has accredited over 500 programs in 83 universities in Taiwan. It became the country's leading accreditation agency in engineering and technological education. All accredited programs are waived from the Ministry of Education's evaluation. Since the outset, IEET has been promoting outcomes-based education in Taiwan. Specifically, the agency has been paying much attention to the program's training of students' graduate attributes through Capstone Course in recent years. Although Capstone Course is not something new to many programs, only few programs have linked the assessment of the course with attainment of graduate attributes. Now through the requirement of the IEET accreditation criteria, all programs must have Capstone Course and must use the assessment of the Course to show compliance with the IEET's requirements of graduate attributes. Due to the political situation, higher education in Myanmar has gone through a period of uncertainty and instability. However, as the political and economical situations changed in recent years, the country works hard to catch up with its international peers. MES is one of the most active engines in the country to move and elevate level and quality of engineering education. It joins members in the Federation of Engineering Institutions of Asia and the Pacific (FEIAP) to seek recognition of engineering degree holders from Myanmar. Chinese Institute of Engineers (CIE) is a member of the FEIAP but does not oversee accreditation of engineering education in Taiwan. CIE asked IEET's support to help mentoring MES in the development of engineering education accreditation system in Myanmar. Starting from 2013, IEET delegates have visited Myanmar many times to introduce the engineering education accreditation system to universities and members of MES. Moreover, IEET delegates also provide training workshops to the MES members. When the country finally adopted Professional Engineering Act and recognized accreditation of engineering education as the requirement for engineer licensing, MEngC was thus formed to develop and execute engineering education accreditation. Through several years of working together with IEET, MEngC has published accreditation criteria and policies and launched accreditation visit to YTU. Universities in Myanmar are also showing interest in accreditation now, a departure from years ago when many had doubts in accreditation. IEET hopes that the accreditation of engineering education could serve as a catalyst for the advancement of engineering education in Myanmar.