Rizal Raoul Reyes
THE Mapua Institute of Technology, a pillar of
engineering education in the country and a member of the Yuchengco group
of companies, raised the bar in their standard of education when it was
given last August an accreditation by the United States-based
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (Abet).
In a recent media
briefing held at Mapua’s Makati campus, Mapua president Dr. Reynaldo Vea
said the accreditation given by Abet is a milestone because it is a
first time for an institution in the East Asian region to be given such
recognition.
The
10 Abet-accredited programs in Mapua are: BS Chemical Engineering, BS
Civil Engineering, BS Computer Engineering, BS Computer Science, BS
Electrical Engineering, BS Electronics Engineering, BS Environmental and
Sanitary Engineering, BS Industrial Engineering, BS Information
Technology and BS Mechanical Engineering.
With
an Abet accreditation, Mapua said their graduates will have an easier
time to get employment, get admitted to graduate schools and take
licensure examinations in the US and other parts of the world.
Furthermore, Mapua said the Abet certification is a proof their
graduates have passed the educational eligibility requirements once they
apply for membership in international registers of engineers a few
years after graduation.
Abet
is a federation of 25 professional and technical societies in the US in
the fields of engineering, computing, applied science and technology.
Abet accreditation guarantees that a degree program meets US quality
standards established by professionals themselves.
Prior
to applying for Abet’s accreditation, Vea said Mapua conducted a
self-assessment of the 10 programs to determine if they were at par with
the standards of the accreditation body.
After determining that they are ready to face Abet, Vea said they invited people from Abet to assess Mapua’s programs.
“Abet found out that the assessed programs are comparable to the US and the rest of the world,” he said.
The
Abet seal of quality education means a lot for a school that seeks
global status, as it entails establishment of a rigorous education
system that will enable the school to produce graduates that are sure to
meet international standards—the Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) system.
Meanwhile, Bonifacio T. Doma Jr., executive vice president for academic affairs, said the OBE “basically zeroes in on outcomes.”
Doma
further emphasized that outcomes differ from outputs. For one, he said
outputs are the total number of graduates in a program while outcomes
refer to the abilities the students have acquired at the time of
graduation and the abilities that they will learn many years after
graduation.
“In
the previous system, schools thought that if they have the proper
inputs, such as the right number of books in the library, teachers with
PhDs, good equipment, among others, they could turn out good graduates.
With OBE, inputs are not enough. The degree of achievement of student
outcomes must be evaluated to further improve the program,” said Doma in
his statement posted on the school’s web site.
(Rizal Raoul Reyes)
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