Engineers Ireland has been accepted as a full signatory to the Seoul Accord at its midterm annual meeting in New Delhi, which was held on June 15, 2024. 

Engineers Ireland was represented at the event by director general Damien Owens; membership director Shirley McDonald; and CPD accreditation executive Darren Carthy PhD.

Recognition of computing and information technology degrees

The Seoul Accord supports recognition of computing and information technology degrees across member signatories. Signatories of the Accord are committed to contributing to the improvement of computing education worldwide through the mutual recognition of accredited academic computing programmes that prepare graduates for professional practice.

"Engineers Ireland is delighted to be a part of this agreement, which promotes mobility and best practices for professionals working in computing and information technology,” the organisation said.

Attendees at the recent Seoul Accord meeting included Engineers Ireland's director general Damien Owens; membership director Shirley McDonald; and CPD accreditation executive Darren Carthy PhD.

At present, Australia, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States are full signatory countries of the Seoul Accord.

“Congratulations Damien Owens and all at Engineers Ireland – international recognition and accreditation specifically for computing courses is very important, anyone running such courses in Ireland should enquire further the benefits on becoming accredited under the Seoul accord!,” said Edmond Harty, former president of Engineers Ireland.

List of Signatories (In alphabetical order).

The Seoul Accord chair, Professor Pak-Leung Yuen said: “The signatories of the Seoul Accord have joined together for the primary purpose of contributing to the improvement of computing education worldwide through the mutual recognition of accredited academic computing programs that prepare graduates for professional practice.

“By establishing desired attributes for graduates of computing programs that prepare graduates for professional practice and by sharing best practices for computing education, we hope to contribute to the acceptance of international standards for the academic preparation of computing professionals and efforts to achieve these standards in computing education throughout the world. Our Accord is non-governmental and is not affiliated with any country.

“Although our Accord is young, having been established in December 2008, our vision is to become recognised internationally as a leader in defining and promulgating standards and guidelines for the academic preparation of computing professionals. Toward this vision, we seek to increase our membership substantially during the next several years.

“Our Accord is open to any recognised organisation that accredits university-level computing programmes satisfying the standards and processes that we have established, which are open and available on this website. Acceptance as a signatory requires a thorough examination and approval of an applicant's procedures and accreditation standards, and signatories are re-evaluated periodically to ensure that our processes and standards remain in conformance with those of the Accord and remain acceptable for mutual recognition by the other signatories of the Accord.”

Membership: Key points

The Seoul Accord is a multilateral agreement among agencies responsible for accreditation or recognition of tertiary-level computing and IT-related qualifications.

Membership (called being a Signatory) is voluntary, but the Signatories are committed to development and recognition of good practice in computing and IT-related education.

The number of Signatories is expected to grow, and the activities of the Accord Signatories are intended to assist growing globalisation of mutual recognition of computing and IT-related qualifications.

• There will be transparency to the accreditation systems of the signatories and to the educational systems to which the accreditation systems are oriented.
• The Accord should avoid any perception that it is arbitrary and capricious in its practices and policies, including admitting members and applying rules of membership.
• The Accord should work to become recognized as the international authority on quality assurance for education in the computing and IT-related professions.
• The Accord will promote and develop best practices for the improvement of education in computing and IT-related disciplines.
• The Accord should continually review its policies and procedures to ensure that they are relevant and reliable indicators of the future of computing and IT-related technologies.