Engineers Canada
Engineers Canada

The Washington Accord and Its Purpose

  • An agreement that was put in place by a number of international signatories, recognizing their approaches and systems for accrediting engineering programs as comparable. 
  • By extension, the parties intended for the substantial equivalence of these programs to be recognized in satisfying the academic requirements for the practice of engineering at the professional level in their respective countries.

Purpose: To facilitate the expeditious review of the academic credentials of an applicant engineer from one party by the licensing/regulatory body of another party.

Robust Accreditation Monitoring

The accreditation processes of each signatory’s country are monitored every 3-6 years to ensure they maintain their comparability with all member signatories. CEAB members are involved in this ongoing diligence in other countries.

The Intended Benefits from the Accord

  • Increased familiarity with applications arising from signatory countries ( ‘know what to expect’)
  • Confidence in the accreditation systems in all signatories
  • Intended to expedite academic portion of application reviews

Signatories to the Accord (year of first graduates to which the Accord applies)

For more information: The International Engineering Alliance (IEA)