1. Quality Assurance of Higher Education Programs:
Notes on the ABET Accreditation Process
at the LAU School of Engineering
George E. Nasr, Ph.D.
Dean and Professor
A National Conference Towards a Comprehensive System for Quality Assurance of Higher Education in Lebanon, UNESCO Palace , Beirut, April 29-30, 2011

2. ABET Criteria (1 to 9) 1. Students 2. Program Educational Objectives
3. Program Outcomes
4. Continuous Improvement
5. Curriculum
6. Faculty
7. Facilities
8. Support
9. Program Criteria

3. ABET Requirements
A process that periodically documents and demonstrates that the Program Educational Objectives are based on the needs of the program's various constituents.
Assessment and evaluation processes that periodically document and demonstrate the degree to which the Program Educational Objectives and the Program Outcomes are attained.

4. Program Constituents Students Faculty Alumni Employers
Program Advisory Council (Industry Leaders and Alumni Leaders)

5. Hierarchy of Statements
Development of Outcomes
LAU Mission
School of Engineering Mission
Program Mission
Program Educational Objectives
Program Outcomes
Performance Criteria
Course Learning Outcomes
Achievement of Outcomes

6. Continuous Quality Improvement

7. Program Educational Objectives
Assessment of Educational Objectives
Alumni Surveys
Employer Surveys
Alumni within 2 to 5 years of Alumni Surveys
graduation
Maintain a current database
Engage Alumni/Students
Immediate supervisors of Alumni
Career placement office
Maintain contact

8. Program Outcomes Assessment of Program Outcomes Curriculum Analysis
Scoring Rubrics
Locally-developed or Standard Exams
Exit Surveys
Course-embedded Questions
Internship Surveys

9. Continuous faculty engagement
The accreditation process requires that the programs be fully responsible for the quality of teaching, learning, and assessment; but do faculty members believe that their institutions value their contributions in these areas when making decisions about promotion, tenure, and merit-based salary increases?
Perhaps, promotion guidelines should seriously recognize faculty work on learning assessment and quality assurance processes.