Research On Professional Accreditation System Of Engineering Education In India

The rapid expansion of the scale and quantity of engineering education in India has brought people’s concern about its educational quality,and the engineering education professional accreditation system is favored by the government for its vital role in ensuring the high quality of engineering education.At present,a set of engineering education professional accreditation system with strict organization and clear division of labor has been constructed,therefore,the study for it will help to improve the current engineering education professional accreditation system in our nation.In fact,the establishment of engineering education professional accreditation system has its own background and development history.The relevant practice of the United Kingdom and the United States was an important reference for India;The complexity of the Indian engineering education system and the unbalanced development of quantity and quality made it possible and necessary for the establishment of the system;There are approximately three periods among the history of this system:the emergence and development of the concept,the establishment and improvement of accreditation bodies and the implementation of accreditation.Based on the introduction of legal and policy of professional certification system,this paper illustrates its operation from four levels:the target system,the organization system,the standard system and the guarantee system.Basically covering professional accreditation bodies,accreditation standards,accreditation process and necessary guarantee procedures.In addition,the implementation of the engineering education professional accreditation system includes five stages:the submission of accreditation application,the preparation and submission of self-evaluation report,peer assessment and on-the-spot investigation,accreditation decision and accreditation maintenance.Since the engineering education professional accreditation system was implemented in India,some achievements had been realized,there are as follows:The accreditation system continues to develop and improve;The higher education becomes more internationally competitive;The quality assurance atmosphere and environment in colleges and universities is formed;Many experts with rich accreditation experience are trained.However,some problems still exist,for example,the unbalance in professional accreditation fields,the polar attitudes towards accreditation in universities,the ignorance of implicit indicators and the overall construction of institutions.It also formed some beneficial experience:emphasizing the uniformity of commonness and individuality in the accreditation standard,paying attention to the training during the implementation of accreditation and stressing the international communication and cooperation.The beneficial reference that India can offer to us are as follows:decentralizing power to the relevant organization,encouraging the third parties to participate,constructing the internal quality assurance system in the higher education institutions and strengthening the guidance on grassroots innovation,etc...