Accreditation Policy

A program must fulfill the following requirements to be considered for accreditation:

a. An engineering degree-awarding program approved by an appropriate authority, namely, the UGC or any other appropriate government body.
b. A duration of four years after twelve years of schooling.
c. At least one cohort has graduated from the program.
d. Program pedagogy follows outcome-based education1.
e. Requires a minimum of 130 total credit hours2.

The following should be noted:

i. Accreditation is voluntary and programs are considered for review and accreditation only at the written request of the educational institution.
ii. Accreditation is granted only to programs and not to the institution as a whole.
iii. The same program offered at different campuses of an institution must be accredited separately at each campus.
iv. The degree title of a BAETE-accredited program must properly reflect the content of the education provided, including the field of specialization, and it must appear on all formal documents issued by the institution (e.g., transcripts, certificates of graduation, and certificates of enrollment).
v. The program and degree title(s) of non-accredited program(s) offered by the same institution must be clearly distinguishable from those of an accredited program.
vi. No changes in the name/title of an accredited program shall be made without the prior approval of the BAETE.

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1 Outcome-based education (OBE) is an educational theory that bases each part of an educational system on goals (outcomes).
2 Definition of Semester Credit Hour:
Lecture Classes: One semester credit hour will be awarded for a minimum of 750 minutes of formalized classroom instruction (contact hours) in a semester.
Laboratory Classes: One semester credit hour will be awarded for a minimum of 1500 minutes of classroom/laboratory/studio/project/dissertation (contact hours) in a semester

A new program may ask the BAETE to evaluate its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for and concerns for future accreditation when its most senior cohort is in its second year. The Evaluation Team will identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and concerns in its report without expressing approval or disapproval of the program.

The evaluation of a program shall be conducted in accordance with the criteria presented in Section 4. The evaluation process includes the examination of the information provided in the Self-Assessment Report (SAR) and the Evaluation Team’sfindings from an on-site visit.

The Board will make an accreditation decision about a program based on the recommendations of the Evaluation Team and the relevant Sectoral Committee. The quality evaluation of a program is based on a holistic judgment in relation to the stipulated accreditation criteria regarding compliance, concerns, weaknesses and deficiencies. The maximum accreditation period shall be six years if there is no deficiency and no weakness in any of the criteria. The Board may accredit a program for a shorter period if the program’s overall assessment is acceptable and it does not have weaknesses in more than three criteria. The actual duration of an accreditation period may also depend on the extent of weaknesses and/or concerns. A program may not be accredited if any deficiency in any criterion is identified. If a program is not granted accreditation, the institution may reapply one year later after addressing the deficiencies and weaknesses. Normally, a program’s accreditation commences from the date its application is submitted to the BAETE. However, a new program applying within twelve months of the graduation of its first cohort may be granted retrospective accreditation starting one calendar year before the application date to include the firstgraduated cohort.

If the Evaluation Team finds any deficiency in the program that can be corrected withina short period, the Team may recommend to the Board, through the Sectoral Committee, for a Deferment of Accreditation for a specified time not exceeding twelve months. The institution may reapply within the specified time period without having to wait the minimum one year required in the case of a "Not Accredited" decision.

An institution may apply for the renewal of a program’s accreditation by submitting an application at least six months before the expiration of the current accreditation. The application must be accompanied by an SAR, which should include an account of the shortcomings identified by the previous Evaluation Team and the extent to which these shortcomings have been addressed. Significant improvements that have been achieved since the last accreditation visit, particularly through the continuous quality improvement mechanism, should be highlighted. All other processes, including the on-site visit and the decision-making process, shall be the same as noted for the firstaccreditation.

The educational institution must pay the appropriate fees when submitting an accreditation application. The fee structure is provided on the BAETE website. Moreover, all visit-related expenses, including transportation, food and lodging, will be borne by the educational institution.

Accreditation Fee:

The following accreditation fee is effective for all submissions made after 1 April 2023:

• Accreditation fee for single new program (Any time): Tk. 4,00,000.00 only
• Accreditation fee for single renewal program (Any time) : Tk. 4,00,000.00 only
• Accreditation fee for single renewal program (12-month prior to the expiry date) : Tk. 3,50,000.00 only

All information provided for accreditation by the institution, including the SAR and all on-site observations and findings, are confidential. This information may not be revealed to any unauthorized persons under any circumstances without written permission from the concerned educational institution. Similarly, the institution may not reveal any part of the Evaluation Team’s report to any unauthorized person or to the public without explicit written permission from the BAETE.

Service as a BAETE board member, Sectoral Committee member or Evaluation Team member should not create situations that may result in conflicts of interest or questions regarding the objectivity and credibility of the accreditation process. Each individual involved in the BAETE accreditation process is required to behave in a professional and ethical manner and to disclose real or perceived conflicts of interest. Examples of conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to, the following situations: being a current or former faculty or staff member at the concerned institution, serving as a member on any committee at the concerned institution, current or previous involvement in any for-profit activity with the concerned institution, and having adependent who is a student at the concerned institution.