At the closed session of the signatories of the Sydney Accord held on June 21, 2017 in Alaska , USA as a part of the meetings of the International Engineering Alliance , the IESL was admitted as a provisional signatory to the Accord marking another milestone in the IESL’s quest for global recognition as the accrediting body for engineering and engineering technology degree programmes conducted in Sri Lanka. The signatories took this decision after carefully studying the application made by the IESL and convincing themselves that the accreditation system of IESL is conceptually similar to those of the signatories of the Accord. IESL’s application was strongly supported by Engineers Australia and Engineers Ireland , two of the founder signatories of the Accord.

Before making the application for the provisional status at the Sydney Accord, the IESL evaluated three engineering technology programmes offered by the University of Vocational Studies with one academic each nominated by Engineers Australia and Engineers Ireland serving as members of the evaluation panel. This enabled the representatives of Engineers Australia and Engineers Ireland to gather first hand information on the accreditation system and procedures followed by IESL and convince themselves of the robustness of the system.

Provisional status which is the first step towards becoming a signatory is generally granted for a period of four years.

The Sydney Accord signed in 2001 is an international mutual recognition agreement for qualifications in the field of engineering technology. It recognizes the substantial equivalency of programmes accredited by its signatories , and recommends that graduates of accredited programmes in any of the signatory countries be recognized by the other signatory countries as having satisfied the academic requirements to practice as an engineering technologist. Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China, Ireland, Korea, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States represented by their respective accrediting bodies are the current signatories to the Sydney Accord.

Accreditation involves the evaluation of engineering education programmes offered by universities and other educational providers in the country to see that these programmes comply with a set of criteria laid down in accordance with the accreditation policy of the IESL.

IESL is also a signatory to the Washington Accord.

An accredited engineering/ engineering technology degree programme will enable the respective graduates to practice in the occupational category appropriate to their qualifications and will qualify them to be enrolled in the appropriate class of membership of the IESL. Graduates with an accredited engineering degree can enroll as Associate Members and those with an accredited engineering technology degree can enroll as Affiliate Members.

The IESL delegation at the International Engineering Alliance Meetings was led by Eng. J Meegoda , President of the Institution.

Eng. Arundatie Wimalasuriya
Director, Accreditation, IESL