Review by Evaluation Team

1. After members of the evaluation team have been appointed, the BAETE will notify the educational institution and the Sectoral Committee of the composition of the Evaluation Team. The Sectoral Committee will notify the evaluation team of whether any member of the committee will accompany the team during the on-site visit as a moderator. The BAETE will advise the educational institution to contact the Chairperson of the Evaluation Team through the BAETE Registrar to make arrangements for the on-site visit and to provide the name and contact number of a person for further information and clarification if necessary.

2. Members of the Evaluation Team should note that all correspondence between the educational institution and the BAETE, all reports made during the evaluation process and information regarding whether a program from an educational institution is being considered for accreditation are to be classified as confidential and should not be released to any unauthorized persons except with written permission from both the educational institution and the BAETE.

3. To maintain impartiality and transparency in the accreditation process, no member of the Evaluation Team should participate in any activity that might involve a conflict of interest.

4. The Evaluation Team members will conduct a comprehensive review of the documentation provided on the SAR. If additional information or clarifications of the information furnished by the educational institution are required, members will channel their requests through the Chairperson of the Evaluation Team, who will liaise with the contact person of the educational institution through the BAETE Registrar to obtain the information needed.

5. The Evaluation Team should meet before the on-site visit to discuss its preliminary findings from the documentation.

6. The on-site visit will usually be conducted over a period of three days for each program. A sample of on-site activities is provided in Annex II as a guide to the assessment to be conducted during the on-site visit.

7. An exit meeting should be conducted at the end of the on-site visit program, at which the Evaluation Team will present its preliminary findings orally to the educational institution. The findings for the purpose of reporting in the exit meeting, shall be classified into compliance or non-compliance, where non-compliance includes concern, weakness and deficiency.

8. In the event that an educational institution requires follow-up activities (for example, the educational institution may be required to present additional information that needs to be assessed), the evaluation team may appoint one of its members to conduct another visit to review the work.

9. The draft report of the evaluation team is expected to be prepared and forwarded to the respective Sectoral Committee within 3 weeks after the on-site visit. Annex III provides the report template to be used by the evaluation team.

The BAETE maintains a data bank of its trained program evaluators from which potential Evaluation Team members are selected. This data bank will be updated periodically. The program evaluators may be active or retired professionals.

Each Evaluation Team will consist of three members:
a) A Chairperson
b) Two Program Evaluators

The members of the Evaluation Team will be drawn from the following:
a) Academic institutions of repute
b) R&D laboratories and establishments
c) The government
d) Corporation/industry.

Industry Program Evaluators will be drawn from the domain areas relevant to the program. The Chairperson must not be below the rank of professor (or equivalent in the case of industry) and should have significant experience through previous participation as a program evaluator.

Normally, program evaluators from academia will be required to possess the following:

a) Significant teaching and research experience in the university and good standing in their respective disciplines
b) Demonstrable expertise in engineering education and/or a specific engineering discipline through publication and/or technology development
c) Good knowledge and skills for conduction program evaluations, obtained through training by BAETE or other accreditation bodies
d) A Ph.D. or equivalent as the highest academic degree

Normally, the program evaluators from industry will be required to possess the following:

a) Significant industrial experience, generally not less than 10 years of considerable engineering/managerial experience
b) Demonstrable expertise in the specific engineering discipline of the program to be evaluated for accreditation
c) Good knowledge and skills for conducting program evaluation, obtained through training by BAETE or other accreditation bodies
d) A rank equivalent to senior manager or higher, preferably with post-graduate qualifications

To ensure program evaluation competence and to standardize the evaluation process, the BAETE provides regular training and orientation for program evaluators and team chairs through workshops and seminars. These trainings also help update the program evaluators regarding the BAETE’s current policies.

The core knowledge and competencies required for program evaluators include the following:

a) Accreditation policy
b) Accreditation procedure
c) Requirements of general accreditation criteria and specific program criteria
d) Evaluation and judgment of compliance with benchmark standards of accreditation criteria
e) Outcome-based assessment
f) DOs and DON’Ts during on-site accreditation visits