4 page Supplement Report on Pakistan Engineering Council’s provisional membership of Washington Accord published in English Daily “Dawn” on July 28, 2010.

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Pakistan High Commission,
Canada Ottawa,
Press Release,
June 26th, 2010 

Pakistan enters into the Washington Accord: 

Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) today became a provisional member of the prestigious Washington Accord which would facilitate mobility of engineering graduates and professionals of Pakistan at international levels.

With this entry, PEC’s accreditation system/process will get an international recognition after full compliance .The graduates from PEC accredited programmes will be facilitated /accepted for education and employment purposes in member countries on completion of membership process.

Pakistan is expected to get full membership of the Washington Accord in about two years after it brings its academic programmes, curriculum and syllabus, examination and evaluation system to the International level and revise its accreditation system to make it fully outcome-based. Now the other signatory member countries would provide mentoring support to pakistan.And PEC will also participate in the accreditation activities of the member countries. The proposal for Pakistan’s membership was placed by the PEC delegation comprising of Engr. Senator Rukhsana Zuberi, Chairperson, Engr. Prof. Fazal A. Khalid (Member BoG PEC), Engr. Dr. M. Akbar (Member BoG PEC) and Engr. Dr. Nasir M. Khan, Additional Registrar (Accreditation) of the Council, before the International Engineering Alliance (IEA) meeting 2010 at Ottawa, Canada.

Thanking Dr.Winfred M Phillips the Chair of Washington Accord, Engr. Senator Rukhsana Zuberi assured the Accord members of full compliance to the prescribed benchmark/standards. The Washington Accord is an international agreement among registering bodies of member countries accrediting academic engineering programmes at university level, leading to the practice of engineering at the full professional level. Regular quality review is an important function to maintain international quality. In terms of this agreement each registering body accepts the accrediting processes of the others. The Accord recognizes substantial equivalence of programmes accredited by those organizations and recommends that the graduates of accredited programmes in any of the signatory countries be recognized by the other countries as having met the academic requirements for entry into the practice of engineering.

The founding Signatories of the Accord in 1989 were: Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) – USA, Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE), Engineering Council (EC UK), Institution of Engineers of Ireland (IEI), Institution of Engineers, Australia (IEAust), and Institution of Professional Engineers, New Zealand (IPENZ). At present, the Washington Accord member countries are: Australia, USA, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei , Malaysia, and Singapore, and the provisional Members are: Germany, Russia, Srilanka, India. Membership of Washington Accord is recognition of the quality of engineering education offered by the country and an avenue to bring it into World Class category.

PEC is the only authorized statutory body in Pakistan entrusted with the task of undertaking accreditation and registration of Engineering & technology education programmes. All Engineering programmes including those offered by University/college are accredited by PEC. The Council (PEC) evaluates the quality of programmes offered by educational institutions/universities at degree levels.  

PEC delegate for Washington Accord of International Engineering Alliance (IEA) at High Commission of Pakistan to Canada, Ottawa

L to R (1st Row): Engr. Dr Nasir M. Khan (Additional Registrar PEC), H.E. Mr Akbar Zeb (High Commissioner), Senator Engr. Rukhsana Zuberi (Chairperson PEC), and Prof. Engr. Dr F.A Khalid (Member PEC EA&QEC)

L to R (2nd Row): Engr. Dr. M. Akbar (Member PEC BOG), Mr. Saleem (Dy High Commission), and Mrs. Mamoona Amjad (Press Councilor)