Applying ABET Engineering Criteria 2000 to a German Electrical Engineering program

The Electrical Engineering program of the University of Karlsruhe (Germany) entered the ABET evaluation procedure for advanced-level programs in 1999. The Pre-Visit was held in May 1999, the ABET Main Visit took place in December 2000. The Karlsruhe EE program is the first engineering program outside the US which is evaluated according to the new criteria EC2000. The results are supposed to demonstrate the substantial equivalency with accredited US engineering programs. In Germany, accreditation of engineering programs is only ascending, because ever since University programs and their curricular principles have been harmonized by federal-state laws and regulations. Quality management was simply implied, because of the strong normative regulations. Recently, accreditation and Total Quality Management have become the buzzwords in Germany because of the need for objective criteria in the comparison of German programs with international engineering education. Emphasis will be on social and ethical issues in engineering programs and their implementation in engineering education. Moreover, the adequacy of these criteria with respect to the issues is debated and the need for teaching of knowledge management as a meta-science within engineering is addressed. Technological hermeneutics, i.e. the philosophical fundamentals of technology design is regarded as an essential in engineering education. Finally, the need for a new professional image of the engineer within modern industries in the global environment is discussed. Since ABET EC2000 is designed for American education programs, its applicability to German engineering programs and its impact on curriculum is discussed in detail.