As part of 1.1 “Investigate and validate the purpose and scope of accreditation” from Engineers Canada’s 2022-2024 strategic plan, Engineers Canada is seeking proposals from individuals or entities to provide complex change management services to support the achievement of its strategic priority to “Investigate and Validate the Purpose and Scope of Accreditation”.
About the strategic priority
Much has changed since the introduction of the accreditation system in 1965. The way that engineering education is delivered has evolved, and regulators’ operations, as well as the requirements imposed on their licensure systems, have changed significantly. The accreditation system, meanwhile, has remained relatively unchanged, with the introduction of only two significant changes in the past 30 years: a measurement unit to quantify the duration of a program in the 1990s (the Accreditation Unit, or AU), and outcomes-based evaluation of programs in 2015 (graduate attributes and continual improvement, or GA/CI).
Accreditation criteria must match the academic requirements for licensure and needs of regulators and must be applied in an environment-controlled by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Whereas regulators seek assurance from the accreditation system that every single graduate meets academic requirements for licensure, HEIs seek flexibility that will allow them to innovate in their program design and teaching methods.
The fundamental goal of Engineers Canada’s strategic priority to “Investigate and validate the purpose and scope of accreditation”, therefore, is to understand the perspectives of all stakeholders and to propose a path forward that will meet the needs of regulators while keeping current with the realities of engineering education.
The work will include:
- Investigation and potential definition of a national academic requirement for engineering licensure;
- Delivery of a new, revised or confirmed purpose of accreditation;
- Delivery of a final report which provides direction to implement systems aligned with the purpose and academic requirement, with concrete recommendations for how to close the gaps and align supporting work (i.e., the “path forward” document);
- Collaboration and consultation with pan-Canadian multi-stakeholder groups;
- Project Management;
- Change Management; and
- Support of the Steering Committee, Academic Requirement and Purpose task forces.
The successful Bidder will be expected to deliver several key services and deliverables over the course of several years, with all work on the Project completed before December 31, 2024.
All proposals must be submitted by 11:59pm EST on January 11, 2022.
*Note: Engineers Canada offices are closed between December 24th, 2021, and January 3rd, 2022 (inclusive)
