SOA University constituent ITER gets global accreditation

Bhubaneswar: Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), faculty of engineering and technology of SOA University here, has become the fourth institute in the country to get its programmes accredited by the prestigious Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), USA.

The Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET, the 85-year-old non-governmental organization that accredits post-secondary education programme in applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology world over, has accredited three – mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and electronics and communication engineering— among many programmes run by ITER.

The communication from ABET informing about the accreditation accorded to three ITER departments was received by the university on Thursday. Till now, SRM University, VIT University and Thapar University are the only three universities in India who have received ABET accreditation.

“This significant achievement has been a validation of our claim that we maintain global standards. ABET’s accreditation for SOA University means that its programme produce graduates ready to enter critical technical fields which lead the way in innovation and emerging technologies,” SOA University’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. Amit Banerjee said.

According to varsity sources, a four-member evaluation team from ABET’s Baltimore headquarters headed by Dr. Mark J. Sebern had visited ITER in November last year to review course materials of each programme, student projects and sample assignments.

All parameters including quality of students, program educational objectives, student outcomes, continuous improvement, curriculum, faculty, facilities and institutional support were evaluated by the visiting team before the accreditation was given, the sources added.