When an engineering programme is to be accredited by more than one of the professional engineering institutions (PEIs), joint visits have for a number of years been managed through the Engineering Accreditation Board (EAB).
The EAB has been a joint initiative by the PEIs and for many years it has been supported with a secretariat by the Engineering Council, but the EAB has decided to review its operations, including future arrangements for joint accreditation visits. In the meantime the long-term arrangements for  joint accreditation are unclear.
In the shorter term, this year’s EAB visits (ie. those during the 2023-24 academic year) have been completed with the Engineering Council providing secretariat. Visits for 2024-25 are being planned with the PEIs sharing the secretariat arrangements. Any requests for visits beyond that time will be considered on a case-by-case basis by PEIs until they’ve confirmed what the new  secretariat arrangements will be.
As the EAB secretariat the Engineering Council has consulted universities that took part in EAB visits and they confirmed that  the joint arrangements were valuable. It is hoped this will be reflected in whatever future arrangements are agreed and we expect to hear in due course from the Engineering Council and/or from the new secretariat for joint visits when decisions have reached.
As well as joint accreditation visits, the EAB has provided a mechanism for PEIs to share practice related to degree accreditation and to discuss any other matters relating to higher education that may be of interest to PEIs and the Engineering Council.
The EAB meetings are being replaced with:
- A new Engineering Council Programme Recognition Forum which effectively merges the practice sharing elements of EAB and the Engineering Council’s Engineering Apprenticeships & Technical Qualifications Forum (EATQ).
- A new Engineering Council Education and Skills Advisory Panel, which involves wider education and skills stakeholders and has EPC representation.
All the former EAB members have been invited to join the Programme Recognition Forum (unless the PEI they represent decides to nominate someone else) and the first meeting is scheduled for 17 July 2024.
It is anticipated that one final EAB meeting will be held once the organisation considering provision of alternative secretariat arrangements is in a position to present a full proposal to PEIs.
The EPC has been in close communication with the Engineering Council throughout and will continue to work with the new Forum to ensure the interests of higher education Engineering departments are properly represented.
Further information about EAB is available on the Engineering Council website at www.engc.org.uk/eab Any queries related to EAB or Engineering Council activities related to accreditation should please be directed to accreditation@engc.org.uk
