History

Origins of Acredita CI

Acredita CI is an Agency committed to quality assurance processes in higher education, putting at your disposal 16 years of experience in the development of these processes and nearly 600 accredited programs and master’s programs in the Areas of Technology, Administration and Commerce, Sciences and Natural Resources.

The Agency was born under the eaves of the Colegio de Ingenieros de Chile in 2006, designed as the necessary step to help strengthen its strategic objectives, among which are:

  • «Promote the development of Engineering and the progress, prestige and prerogatives of the engineering profession»;
  • «Ensure the correct use of the engineer voice in the issuance of professional titles»;
  • «Contribute to the academic training of engineers»;
  • «Ensure discipline and compliance by its members with the ethical principles of the School, established in the Code of Ethics of the School».

Trajectory and key milestones:

Acredita CI has been achieving the objectives of its strategic planning with a main focus on the internationalization of the Agency, in this way it has reached the preponderance at the national level that stands out today. Thus, the main milestones have been:

  • Year 2007: signs a Memorandum of Understanding with ABET of the United States, in order to share best practices in career accreditation processes.
  • 2014: Washington Accord Chairman Hu Hanrahan formally invites Acredita CI to apply for the Washington Accord.
  • Year 2015: Acredita CI signs a Memorandum of Understanding with CACEI of Mexico, in order to share and collaborate on the best practices of engineering accreditation processes.
  • Year 2016: Acredita CI signs the Lima Accord as a founding member, in the city of Lima. This agreement recognizes the substantial equivalence of the training of engineers from the countries of Mexico, Peru, Chile, Costa Rica, the Caribbean and the countries of Central America.
  • Year 2018: Acredita CI appears in front of the colleagues of the member countries of the Washington Accord, in London, to apply for the Washington Accord. The application of Acredita CI is accepted as a Provisional Member of the Accord.
  • That same year Acredita CI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ICACIT, the Institute of Quality and Accreditation of computing, engineering and technology programs in Peru, in order to collaborate on matters related to the accreditation activities of Engineering, Technology and Computing programs.
  • October 2019 – December 2020: Acredita Ci receives the visit of Dr. Stuart Zweben of ABET, expert evaluator in Engineering accreditation, in his role as Mentor, as part of the Agency’s application procedure for full membership of the Washington Accord.
  • November 2021: Acredita CI joins as a full member of INQAAHE, an international network that brings together more than 300 accrediting agencies in the world, in which best practices are discussed and promoted as an entity committed to quality assurance in higher education.
  • January 2022: Acredita CI applies as a «Full Member» to ENAEE, European Network for Accreditation of Engineering Education, with the subsequent purpose of extending the recognition of the accreditation granted by the Agency, to the European Higher Education Area.
  • May 2022: the application of Acredita CI as Full Member of ENAEE, from Europe, is accepted. The Agency formally initiates its insertion in the European Higher Education Area to request authorization to award the EUR-ACE label to engineering accredited programs.

Acredita CI currently:

The vision of the future that has characterized Acredita CI throughout its history, has led the Agency to currently offer the services of:

  • Accreditation of Science-Based Engineering programs.
  • Certification of the Quality of higher education programs.
  • External evaluation of higher education programs.
  • Workshops and talks for the different actors of the training process aimed at improving its results.
  • Projection in the international arena

To develop these services and processes with excellence, Acredita CI has a duly trained and experienced staff, among which its plant staff, its 30 Counselors from the different areas of knowledge, 374 peer evaluators and 10 visiting secretaries stand out.