Journal of Engineering Education Transformations

Abstract

Abstract: India has a broad, varied, and multifaceted technical and higher education system and is behind China and the United States in terms of the world's largest system of higher education. Accreditation is a mechanism intended to assess whether an educational institution or program satisfies the specified academic standards. While in the US the accreditation body is Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET), in India, it is the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). NBA accreditation model is linked to ABET via Washington Accord. The task in front of these authorities is introducing the policies to ensure that students receive the type of education they require in today's complicated and volatile world. This paper demonstrates a case-study on how the Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering Department of Fr. C. Rodrigues Institute of Technology (FCRIT) leveraged the policies and models adapted by NBA for Outcome Based Education (OBE) for raising the quality of theBachelor of Engineering Program. It reviews the history and role played by ABET and NBA in continuously evolving the criteria for the accreditation of engineering courses. It presents thesystems and processes established by the Department as per the NBA-OBE model for enhancing students' Course Outcome (CO) and Program Outcome (PO) attainments. There has been increase of 4.1% and 5% in averaged CO and PO attainments, respectively, for the 2016-20 passed out batch compared to 2014-18 batch. In conclusion, the NBA-OBE model can be leveraged further for enhancement in outcomes in the proposed autonomy model at FCRIT.

Keywords: Outcome Based Education, National Board of Accreditation, Education, Quality