ACCREDITATION OF CONSTRUCTION EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

In the United States of America (USA), there are two types of educational accreditation, regional and specialized. The former is practiced through associations of colleges and universities within defined geographical areas of the country (South, North Central, Middle Atlantic, New England, West and Northwest). Specialized accreditation grew out of a desire on the part of professional bodies to ensure the quality of education given to practitioners. Today, more than seventy fields in post-secondary education such as law, medicine, and engineering are subject to specialized accreditation conducted through the direct or indirect involvement of several national organizations and thousands of individuals. This paper reviews the standards and process for accreditation of construction education programs in the USA.