In a development that can only augur well for Indian
engineers looking for employment overseas, India will become a full-fledged
member of the Washington Accord by June this year. This will facilitate global
recognition of Indian degrees and improve mobility of students and engineers.
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The Washington Accord, signed in 1989, is an international
agreement among bodies responsible for accrediting engineering degree programmes.
It recognizes the substantial equivalency of programmes accredited by those
bodies and recommends that graduates of programmes accredited by any of the
signatory bodies be recognized by the other bodies as having met the academic
requirements for entry to the practice of engineering. Some 16 countries are signatories to it.
The Indian government plans to set up the National Accreditation
Regulatory Authority (NARA) to improve quality and meet international standards.
"After acquiring full status of the Washington Accord, employability of
Indian engineers in other countries will go up substantially. This will help
our students pursuing technical education," explained Ashok Thakur,
Secretary Higher Education.
According to Thakur, India has been a provisional member of the
Washington Accord since 2007 and is confident to get the full-fledged status by
June when a meeting of the body is due to take place. Two members have been
deputed by the Washington Accord to help India align its accreditation norms
with the best international practices.
