OBJECTIVES AND GOALS OF ACCREDITATION

Accreditation by OE has the following goals:

a) It exempts graduates of accredited courses from taking exams for admission to OE;

b) It identifies institutions offering accredited courses in one or more engineering fields, thus recognised by OE as providing a suitable level of depth, scope and quality; these schools are disclosed to the public in the interest of students, professional associations, employers and government entities.

c) To collaborate with the schools and to make suggestions that may lead to improvements in current and future engineering education programs.

d) Generally stimulate engineering education improvement in Portugal and thus contribute to its greater prestige.

OE’s strategy for course accreditation is based on the following basic principles:

a) Accreditation is awarded to Courses and not to Institutions or Departments.

b) For a course to be accredited, most of the different assessment components must be in compliance, since a course is viewed as a whole that cannot be broken down into parts.

c) Accreditation does not depend only on the course’s curriculum program. Assessment is also based on other factors such as the level of requirements, the teaching quality, the schoolwork conditions and students’ progress.

d) Teaching innovation and experimentation are valued in the education of engineers whereas obsolescence and stagnation are penalised.

e) Qualitative and quantitative factors are used in the accreditation decision. These factors will be complemented by observations, information and general impressions during the visit to the school.

f) Only accredited courses are included in the published list.