ABSTRACT
Striving toward the ethical and competent practice of engineering motivates linkages between the (a) individual professional licensure of engineers and (b) accreditation of engineering courses as a means to control the quality of engineers’ educational preparation. This chapter overviews engineering accreditation and analyzes the ethical aspects of accreditation and of these arguments. Because general aspects of accreditation shape and inform what is possible regarding the ethics requirements within accreditation, the authors critique the processes behind establishing accreditation requirements from the perspectives of power dynamics, inclusion, and transparency. They explore such ideas at a high level and then present two in-depth case studies. Based on the first author's experiences, the landscape of professional engineering licensure and accreditation in the United States is examined; the discussion dives deeply into the ethics-related processes within civil engineering. Based on the second author's doctoral research, the second case illustrates how Ireland (another Washington Accord signatory) enacts ethics education in engineering. These examples provide a grounding that others can use when considering their locally relevant specifics.
