ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a historical and cross-national comparative examination of the formal incorporation of ethics and related learning outcomes in accreditation criteria for engineering graduates. The authors begin by exploring the origin of modern accreditation systems in higher education, emphasizing key developments in the United States over more than a century. They note more recent, widespread moves from inputs- to outputs-based frameworks, alternate quality assurance methods used in some non-US regions, and the continued global influence of US-style approaches to accreditation. They then present a series of specific cases to explore when, where, and how ethics and associated concerns have been formally codified in accreditation requirements for engineering graduates. They start with the United States as a well-documented and influential example and follow this with a description of two other Western/Anglo settings (the United Kingdom and Canada). They then turn to two international agreements (the Washington Accord and EUR-ACE) and two East Asian cases (Japan and China). Their account synthesizes prior scholarship and references some primary source materials, offering fresh new insight into the origins and development of engineering ethics education accreditation.
