In the United States, accreditation is a non-governmental, peer-review process that assures the quality of the postsecondary education students receive. Educational institutions or programs volunteer to undergo this review periodically to determine if certain criteria are being met.
It is important to understand, however, that accreditation is not a ranking system. It is simply assurance that a program or institution meets established quality standards.
There are two types of accreditation: institutional and specialized.
- Institutional accreditation evaluates overall institutional quality. One form of institutional accreditation is regional accreditation of colleges and universities.
- Specialized accreditation examines specific programs of study, rather than an institution as a whole. This type of accreditation is granted to specific programs at specific levels. Architecture, nursing, law, medicine, and engineering programs are often evaluated through specialized accreditation.
ABET, http://www.abet.org, is responsible for the specialized accreditation of educational programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology.
Enrollment and Graduation Summary for Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science
School and college-level information is available at Enrollment Summary and Degrees Granted.
Oregon State University
The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) provides institutional accreditation for Oregon State University.
Accreditation for Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Bachelor of Science and Honors Bachelor of Science degree programs in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org.
The ECE program mission, program educational objectives, and student outcomes are available on the Electrical and Computer Engineering accreditation page.
Accreditation for Computer Science
The Bachelor of Science and Honors Bachelor of Science degree programs in the Computer Science Computer Systems Option are accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org.
Programs in Computer Science, Information Systems option; Computer Science, Applied Computer Science option are not accredited.
The Computer Science program mission, program educational objectives, and student outcomes are available on the Computer Science accreditation page.