The meaning of completion of JABEE accredited program

A student having completed JABEE accredited program is standing at the starting point to further path to become a Professional Engineer. He/she is recognized as having received engineering education recognized among the world. In most of the signatory countries and regions of the Washington Accord, only graduates, who have completed engineering education accredited by a signatory of the Washington Accord, are eligible to be Professional Engineers.

The different situations of the eligibility

Privileges granted to graduates of programs accredited by their country accreditation bodies or by the Washington Accord signatory organizations vary from signatory to signatory. Basically, the path to become a Professional Engineer in a country is exclusively opened to person who have completed the accredited program.

In Hong Kong, an applicant for Professional Engineer needs to be a graduate of accredited program and it is set as one of the prerequisite of registration for Professional Engineer. The Hong Kong Institute of Engineers treats graduates of JABEE accredited programs as equivalent to graduates of their own graduates.

In Australia, less workload and cost efficient process are applied for graduates of JABEE accredited programs for the assessment process of application of working visa as foreign professional engineers.

In several states of the USA, graduates of accredited programs of the Washington Accord signatory organizations, called “Washington Accord graduates” are treated as equivalent to graduates of accredited programs of ABET, engineering education accreditation body, at the time of taking FE Examination, known as “Fundamentals of Engineering” prior to taking PE, also known as “Principle and Practice of Engineering” Examination so that all the hassle required for the application procedure is largely simplified.

The different situation in Japan

In the Washington Accord signatory countries, most of engineering education programs are accredited by accreditation body within the country. However, it is not the case in Japan. Not all the engineering programs are yet accredited by JABEE. There are some unfortunate cases where without knowing this situation, students who have studied at non-JABEE programs could not be Professional Engineers in their own countries when they go back to their home after the completion of programs. In order to avoid such unfortunate cases, the Malaysian Government grants the government scholarship only to those who have been admitted to JABEE accredited programs.

The Professional Engineer title is licensed by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology (MEXT). JABEE graduates are exempted from the first step examination of Professional Engineer in Japan.

Suggestion from JABEE to foreign students

JABEE strongly advises to foreign students, who plan to study in Japan with the aim to being international-level professional engineers in the future, to select JABEE accredited programs.