Proposed changes to ABET CS accreditation criteria

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

http://www.abet.org/blog/news/cac-releases-proposed-criteria-changes-for-public-review-and-comment/
http://www.abet.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/CAC-Side-By-Side-Criteria-11-12-16.pdf

Significant curricular changes in the new version appear to be:

  • More specific list of CS topics that must be covered.
  • Removal of the minimum of one year (30 credits) of math + natural science requirement. Minimum is now one half year (15 credits) of math including discrete math and an unspecified amount of "Natural science course work that develops an understanding of the scientific method, provides exposure to laboratory work, and provides students with an opportunity to experience this mode of inquiry in courses appropriate for science or engineering majors." This subcategories are the same as before (except that math is explicitly specified to be above precalculus), but there is no longer the requirement that they must add up to one year (30 credits) combined.
2

These look like really solid changes to me - glad to see the adaptation. I think the math is still bit more relevant than the natural science and hope programs still keep Calc 1/2 and Stats/Linear Algebra standard, and then adds in a single science course to fit the requirement rather than the current more extensive science requirements.

The specificity of the CS requirements is long overdue in my opinion, as there are certainly a decent deal of programs that don’t currently cover that part as proposed.

These changes could actually bring some meaning to ABET in CS, if not in a very small capacity.

3

Do you know when the changes would go into effect?

4

http://www.abet.org/accreditation/accreditation-criteria/criteria-for-accrediting-computing-programs-2016-2017/ indicates that the proposed change may take effect for 2017-2018.