What is JABEE? - General Information about JABEE

	Name of Organization: Japan Accreditation Board for Engineering Education
	Founded: November 19, 1999
	Aims: JABEE was founded with the aim of ensuring, by collaborating with academe and industry respectively, and by accreditation under standardized criteria, the international equivalency of engineering education programs provided by Japanese institutions of higher education, such as universities, and contributing to the development of society and industry through the promotion of engineering education and the training of international engineers.
	JABEE is an autonomous organization that oversees of the delegation of member societies in specific academic and engineering disciplines. These member societies are represented on JABEE Board of Directors.
	JABEE accredits engineering education programs, not whole institutions. This is achieved by conducting an examination, the results of which are used to reach a formal accreditation decision.
	JABEE examines and accredits each program individually in cooperation with the relevant discipline-specific committees both in member societies and in JABEE itself.
	Activities of JABEE: To achieve the aims described above, JABEE shall carry out the following activities:

(1) Establishing accreditation criteria and procedures, conducting examinations and accreditations, and publicizing the accreditation of engineering education programs provided by institutions of higher education

(2) Training examiners to examine engineering education programs

(3) Designating, administering, and coordinating partner organizations from the field of accreditation to examine engineering education programs

(4) Conducting surveys and issuing proposals about the examination and accreditation of engineering education programs

(5) Coordinating collaboration with academe and industry respectively in the accreditation and examination of engineering education programs

(6) Promoting understanding of the examination and accreditation of engineering education programs

(7)Enhancing international mutual recognition of and information exchange in the examination and accreditation of engineering education programs

(8) Other activities necessary for achieving the purposes of JABEE

Stakeholders of JABEE

Chronology of JABEE:

1999 November	Establishment of JABEE Dr. Hiroyuki YOSHIKAWA was elected as the founding President of JABEE.
2000 March	Memorandum of Understanding was signed with ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology), USA.
2001 June	Admitted as a provisional member of the Washington Accord.
2002 February	Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Engineers Australia.
2002 April	The first 3 programs were accredited.
2004 November	Memorandum of Understanding was signed with ABEEK (Accreditation Board for Engineering Education of Korea).
2005 June	Admitted as a signatory to the Washington Accord. Dr. Hideo OHASHI was elected as the second President of JABEE.
2005 December	Memorandum of Understanding was signed with IEET (Institute of Engineering Education Taiwan).
2007 January	Memorandum of Understanding was signed with CAST (China Association for Science and Technology).
2007 August	NABEEA (Network of Accreditation Bodies for Engineering Education in Asia) was established. Prof. Masataka TANIGAKI was elected as the Chair of NABEEA (till January 2010).
2008 December	Seoul Accord was established. JABEE is one of the six founding signatories.
2009 April	JABEE was registered by the Japanese Governmental Law as General Incorporated Association.
2009 May	JABEE was officially recognized as accreditation organization of UNESCO-UIA validation system for architectural education.
2009 June	Dr. Tsutomu KIMURA was elected as the third President of JABEE.
2010March	The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Science and Technology certified JABEE as an evaluating agency for professional graduate schools.

Number of Accredited Programs

JABEE commenced accreditation of programs leading to Bachelor’s degree in 2001 and programs leading to Master’s degree in 2007. As of the year 2010, JABEE has accredited 435 programs from 165 institutions (Bachelor’s degree) and 4 programs from 4 institutions (Master’s Degree). Approximately, cumulative number of graduates with engineering programs accredited by JABEE reached 145,000 as of 2010. The numbers of accredited programs per year are shown in the table below:

JABEE accredited 2 programs in 2 educational institutions under the educational system of UNESCO-UIA in 2008.

JABEE commenced accreditation of programs leading to Computing & IT-related Bachelor’s degree in 2010.

JABEE commenced certification of graduate professional school in 2010.

The Followings are the Progress of JABEE Accreditation System:

2000	First version of accreditation criteria, procedures and guide for self-inspection reports were published, and 20 pilot accreditation visits were implemented to check the validity of these documents and make improvements for subsequent versions
2001	JABEE reorganized its Commissions and Committees to adapt them to the beginning of accreditation activities and commenced formal accreditation. JABEE applied for provisional membership in the Washington Accord, and the application was approved by a unanimous vote of the Signatories
2003	Based on the experiences of accreditation activities gained from 40 formal and 90 pilot examination visits and accreditations implemented in 2001 and 2002, the first version of the criteria, which is valid from year 2004 to 2011, procedures and guide for self-inspection were reviewed and amended
2004-2006	In addition to the preceding 13 disciplines, some programs were newly accredited in additional 3 disciplines. Herewith plural programs are accredited in all 16 disciplines JABEE has emphasized training of reviewers to accommodate increasing on-site visits. Enough number or observers participated in the on-site visits, including those with industrial background
2007	The accreditation documentation for accreditation of Master level programs was published in March, 2007 and Accreditation Committee for Master’s Level Programs inaugurated. The first two programs leading Master’s degree were accredited
2010	The criteria for accrediting engineering programs leading to bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and computing and IT-related programs leading to bachelor’s degree valid from the year 2010 were disclosed
2011	In May 2011, JABEE disclosed the accreditation criteria to be applied from the year 2012 in accordance with the revised Graduated Attributes which is urged to all the Washington Accord signatories to be in complete compliance by 2019

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