On May 17th, Prof. John Impagliazzo, the ABET accreditation expert, former ACM editor-in-chief and Prof. Alison Clear, head of the ACM/IEEE CC2020 project steering group, visited the College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University. They were welcomed by Prof. Xing Wei, director of the Department of Computer Science and Technology, Prof. Chen Wenzhi, and staff from the Undergraduate Department and Foreign Affairs Department. The group had a lively conversation on accreditation for computer engineering program.
To begin with, Prof. John Impagliazzo introduced the ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accreditation framework. Founded in 1989, ABET is one of the earliest international program accreditation organizations. It mainly accredits college and university programs in the disciplines of sciences and engineering. ABET complies with the Washington Accord and Seoul Accord, which represents international mutual agreement for engineering and computing programs accreditation for more than 20 major countries. The accreditation framework includes curriculum, program objectives, faculty and facilities, graduate competency and program’s continuous development. Next, Prof. Alison Clear introduced the CC2020 (Computing Curricula 2020) project initiated by ACM and IEEE. The CC2020 project aims to establish internationally unified curricula for computer science, and to evaluate program’s competency.
Afterwards, Professor Xing Wei, the director of the Department of Computer Science, exchanged ideas with two professors on the computer science programs offered in the College of Computer Science in Zhejiang University. He introduced that the College offers a combination of general and major courses tailored for four majors, and students with different majors are encouraged to collaborate together in the capstone projects. Prof. John Impagliazzo remarks that this curriculum is highly consistent with the curriculum recommended by ACM for computer engineering program (CE2016). He points out that, the curriculum is systematically designed, with a good blend of theory learning and application. Moreover, Prof. John Impagliazzo and Prof. Alison Clear expressed their support for the courses offered by our college that focus on cultivating teamwork and communication skills of students with technological background.
Professor Xing Wei, the director of the Department of Computer Science and Technology, said that the College endeavors to build world-class programs, so it will further refer to the international accreditation system to make continuous improvement. Prof. John Impagliazzo and Prof. Alison Clear also expressed their desire to further cooperate with the college to set standards for global computing programs.
In the next day, Prof. John Impagliazzo and Prof. Alison Clear visited the industrial design exhibition in the International Design Institute of Zhejiang University. With the introduction of faculty, they enjoyed the award-winning products and excellent course works created by teachers and students of the institute. They also paid special attention to the products specially designed for the G20 summit, such as balance cars and seats. Both professors expressed their appreciation for the innovative spirit of students in Zhejiang University and the care for humanity reflected in their works.
BIOS:
Professor John Impagliazzo was the editor-in-chief of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery). Additionally, he was a member of the ACM Education Accreditation Committee, a fellow and life member of IEEE, and a Distinguished Educator of ACM. John has participated in accreditation for more than 80 computer science programs and has more than 30 years of program accreditation experience.
Prof. Alison Clear is the vice chair of the ACM Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education and an Associate Professor/Project Director at the Eastern Institute of Technology in New Zealand. Alison has extensive experience in computer science education and research. She has published multiple academic papers and been invited as keynote speaker at international conferences. She is currently the leader of the ACM CC2020 project steering group, which is an international research project of 36 people from 20 countries to redefine the computing curricula for 2020 forward.
