INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

CACEI belongs to several international organizations, being the most important:

• Western Hemisphere Initiative (WHI). Integrated by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET -USA), the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB -Canada), the Institute for Quality and Accreditation of Computer, Engineering and Technology Programs (ICACIT - Peru). WHI aims to promote cooperation among agencies involved in accreditation issues.
  
  
• La Red Iberoamericana para la Acreditaciv=n de la Calidad de la Educación Superior (RIACES - Ibero-American Network for Accreditation of Quality in Higher Education). An association of agencies and organizations for the evaluation and accreditation of the quality of higher education, whose members must have competencies recognized by their respective governments in this matter. The main purposes of RIACES is to promote cooperation and exchange among Latin American countries in the evaluation and accreditation of the quality of higher education, to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and information for the development of activities in each country that seek the strengthening and qualification of the processes of evaluation and accreditation of degrees or academic programs and Higher Education Institutions (HEI), as well as of the governmental entities involved in the conduction of these processes and to stimulate the reflection on future scenarios of Latin America's higher education from the perspective of evaluation and accreditation as an instrument of permanent improvement of the quality of the institutions and the programs that they impart.
  
  
• El Acuerdo de Lima (The Lima Accord). It is a multilateral agreement between agencies of Latin American and Caribbean Countries responsible for the accreditation of engineering programs at the undergraduate level within their jurisdiction. The signatories of this agreement are committed to the development and recognition of good practices in engineering education and work together so that once the programs are accredited, the substantial equivalence of such programs is recognized among the signatory bodies. This Accord facilitates the mobility of engineering professionals.
  
  
• The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). It is the accrediting organization of the United States of America for engineering, technology and applied science education programs and it is the organization with which CACEI has had the longest and lasting working interaction. Since the creation of CACEI, ABET has shared its experiences and good practices in accreditation processes, helping CACEI achieve its entry as a provisional member of the Washington Accord. Given the prestige that ABET has at international level, 53 Mexican engineering programs have applied for and obtained accreditation granted by this organization. However, ABET has been respectful and established as a requirement to be accreditated by CACEI first. This is undoubtedly a recognition of the quality and rigor of CACEI accreditation processes.
  
  
• The Washington Accord. Founded in 1989, is an international agreement between agencies responsible for accrediting engineering programs from different countries. It recognizes the substantial equivalence of programs accredited by these agencies and recommends that graduates of programs accredited by any of the member organizations of this agreement be recognized by all other bodies that are signatories to the agreement. The full signatories of the Accord are:
  
  
  • Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, USA.
  • Accreditation Board for Engineering Education of Korea.
  • Association for Engineering Education Russia.
  • Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Engineering Programs, Turkey.
  • Board of Engineers Malaysia.
  • Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos de Costa Rica.
  • China Association for Science and Technology.
  • Engineers Australia.
  • Engineers Canada.
  • Engineering Council South Africa.
  • Engineering Council United Kingdom.
  • Engineers Ireland.
  • Hong Kong Institution of Engineers.
  • Instituto de Calidad y Acreditación de Programas de Computación, Ingeniería y Tecnología, Peru.
  • Institute of Engineering Education Taiwan.
  • Institution of Engineers Singapore.
  • Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka.
  • Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand.
  • Japan Accreditation Board for Engineering Education.
  • National Board of Accreditation, India.
  • Pakistan Engineering Council.

  The accrediting agencies in engineering that have provisional member status in the Washington Accord are the following:

  • Agencia Acreditadora Colegio de Ingenieros de Chile.
  • Board of Accreditation for Engineering and Technical Education, Bangladesh.
  • Consejo de Acreditación de la Enseñanza de la Ingeniería, Mexico.
  • Council of Engineers, Thailand.
  • Indonesian Accreditation Board for Engineering Education.
  • Myanmar Engineering Council, Burma.
  • Philippine Technological Council.
  
  
  

• On the other hand, for the accreditation of engineering technicians’ programs, the Dublin Acord was established in 2002, which currently has nine members:
  
  
  • Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, USA.
  • Accreditation Board of Engineering Education of Korea.
  • Board of Engineers Malaysia.
  • Canadian Council of Technicians and Technologist.
  • Engineers Australia.
  • Engineering Council South Africa.
  • Engineering Council United Kingdom.
  • Engineering Ireland.
  • Engineering New Zealand.

CACEI enjoys recognition in the community of international engineering to be distinguished as a provisional member of the Agreement of Washington. In addition to being the only accrediting body of engineering programs in Mexico that evaluates with international standards and making collaborative alliances with other countries, which places it as a leader at the forefront of internationalization in its field.

In 2014, CACEI, in their concern for advancing the internationalization of engineering programs in our country, signed with the National Agency of Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA) of Spain a strategic cooperation agreement to grant certificates EUR -ACE Seal ® programs previously accredited by CACEI, as a guarantee of its quality. One of the fruits of this alliance is that it substantially simplifies the certification process for the benefit of HEIs. In 2017, six programs in total, two per institution, from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, and the Autonomous University of Yucatán received the EUR-ACE ® Seal. In 2019, added two more programs from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León and the Veracruzana University. In 2021 it is expected to certify 12 engineering programs from the School of Engineering of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and four from the Autonomous University of Baja California. The EUR-ACE ® Seal allows Mexican engineering companies to demonstrate that they have international quality standards comparable to those of the European Economic Community member countries.