Implementation of a Successful ABET Accreditation Process

The article presents the continuous improvement program implemented in a Higher Education Institution in Mexico with the purpose of obtaining ABET accreditation for a Computer Engineering program. The article shows the key ideas that led to the successful accreditation of two Engineering programs, so that they can serve as a reference for other programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. The program is based on three interrelated improvement cycles in which the results of the courses, students and graduates are measured and analyzed. The evaluations involve the use of direct and indirect measures, which complement each other to obtain a more complete vision of the results obtained and to be able to propose improvement actions with greater certainty. The article concludes by presenting the impact of the process on the quality of the programs, the load of the professors and the accreditation itself, and the key requirements of the process such as cost, time and structure of the internal evaluation committee.