Exactly how important is accreditation.?

OsakaDad
Wed, 20 Jun 2012 15:58:07 +0000

Accreditation is very important to make sure that your program will prepare you for a job. Some employers do take it seriously. But, more importantly it is for you – quality control.

On the other hand, my son is going to a top engineering school on the West Coast. All of this school’s programs are accredited except the General Engineering program. The school has purposely refrained from applying because they need to maintain flexibility, creativity and innovation for new programs and areas of concentration. Accreditation requires a specific flow chart of courses with reduced flexibility. For example, the Biomedical Engineering program came out of General Engineering as well as other now accredited programs. The General Engineering department is their “incubator” program. So, if there is a very specific reason like this for not going for accreditation and other departments in the school are accredited, then it is OK.