Creation Of A Greater Caribbean Regional Engineering Accreditation System

This paper describes the creation of a new Engineering program accreditation system for the Central America and Caribbean Region, called the Greater Caribbean Regional Engineering Accreditation System (GCREAS). This initiative was funded by the Inter American Development Bank through the efforts of the Engineering for the Americas (EftA) initiative, uniting representatives from international organizations, government agencies, professional organizations, accreditation bodies, universities and industries, and endorsed by the Organization of American States (OAS) in the Lima Declaration of 2004. The outcomes of the first phase of the GCREAS project are described, including a summary of an extensive comparative analysis conducted of different accreditation systems around the world, advances in creating and approving the standards, governance and operations. Quantitative data from the feasibility study are presented to help determine whether there is a critical mass to enable the implementation of a sustainable GCREAS system and to help scope the efforts to be undertaken within the framework of this project, aimed at building a model of engineering accreditation for the area.