Washington Accord

The Washington Accord is an international agreement between bodies responsible for accrediting engineering degree programmes.

Originally signed in 1989, the Washington Accord, is a multi-lateral agreement between bodies responsible for accreditation or recognition of tertiary-level engineering qualifications within their jurisdictions who have chosen to work collectively to assist the mobility of professional engineers.

As with the other accords the signatories are committed to development and recognition of good practice in engineering education. The activities of the Accord signatories (for example in developing exemplars of the graduates’ profiles from certain types of qualification) are intended to assist growing globalization of mutual recognition of engineering qualifications. The Washington Accord is specifically focused on academic programmes which deal with the practice of engineering at the professional level.

The Accord acknowledges that accreditation of engineering academic programmes is a key foundation for the practice of engineering at the professional level in each of the countries or territories covered by the Accord.

The Accord outlines the mutual recognition, between the participating bodies, of accredited engineering degree programmes. It also establishes and benchmarks the standard for professional engineering education across those bodies..

Currently there are twenty signatories that make up the Washington Accord.

There are also eight organisations, who hold provisional signatory status

Download: 25 Years of the Washington Accord (pdf)