ABET Accreditation in Latin America: A Cross-Country Comparative Analysis

Higher education institutions increasingly place emphasis on program accreditation because it confers real advantages on students, faculty, and employers. Graduates of accredited programs have transparent benefits over graduates of non-accredited programs. However, there is a lack of comparative study of ABET-accredited programs in Latin American countries. This paper fills that gap by providing the first quantitative overview of all ongoing ABET-accredited programs in nine nations within these regions where the latter exist—or once existed. Furthermore, maintaining accreditation poses ongoing difficulties, and some programs ultimately lose their accredited status. Accordingly, this research also investigates past trends and current standing of once-accredited programs in Latin American countries. The results are intended to provide important information for universities, accrediting organizations, and policymakers—especially in these countries—to improve program quality and compliance with ABET guidelines.