The IEM is delighted to inform members and collaborators that it has taken a significant step forward in its commitment to quality education and professional standards. The institution has submitted its Application for Provisional Membership of the Washington Accord (WA), a forum operating under the umbrella of the International Engineering Alliance (IEA).

 

IEM has during the past 7 years developed and proofed its documentation setting out the academic standard, accreditation criteria and the accreditation process, and evaluation criteria, all benchmarked on the standard advocated by the WA community of professional engineering bodies, against which the IEM, through the Engineering Accreditation Board, will accredit engineering degree programmes meeting the educational requirements of the CRPE for engaging in the practice of engineering.

 

In accordance with the requirements of Washington Accord it has conducted accreditation of programmes, duly observed by the WA approved Nominators, from Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and the National Board of Accreditation of India (NBA), who also observed the follow-up decision making and approval process, and submitted their recommendations. IEM’s application will be formally considered at the June meeting of the IEA to be held in New Delhi, and if the members of the WA deem that IEM has demonstrated its potential as an Engineering Programme Accreditation Agency, then the IEA will approve IEAM’s admission as a Provisional Member.  

 

While the above will be a significant achievement, IEM will still have about two years or more within which to build up its competence to the level where it can be upgraded as a Signatory of the WA.  The challenge then will be to demonstrate that it can sustain itself and “pass” the 6-yearly reviews to which it will be subjected as a Signatory. IEM, and we believe, the Country, will be profoundly grateful to all those unnamed collaborators, evaluators, team leaders, and of course the Universities (which volunteered to subject their programmes for evaluation by IEM) to provide IEM the opportunity to demonstrate its ability and capacity to play its role in the education, training and professional development of Mauritian engineers.