What Are the Committee on Technology Accreditation Activities?

The Committee on Technology Accreditation Activities (CTAA), sometimes referred to as the Committee on Engineering Technology Accreditation Activities (CETAA), is a standing committee of the IEEE Educational Activities Board (EAB) that coordinates IEEE's participation in the accreditation of engineering technology degree programs. The committee operates under the EAB's University Resources Committee (URC) and works with ABET's Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC) to ensure that engineering technology programs meet consistent quality standards.

Engineering technology programs differ from traditional engineering programs in their emphasis on applied skills, practical problem-solving, and the direct implementation of engineering principles in industry contexts. The CTAA/CETAA focuses on this category of programs, working alongside the parallel Committee on Engineering Accreditation Activities (CEAA), which covers traditional engineering degrees evaluated through ABET's Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC).

Program Evaluator Coordination

The committee's core function is selecting and assigning qualified IEEE volunteer Program Evaluators (PEVs) to participate in ABET site reviews of engineering technology programs. These volunteers evaluate whether a program's curriculum, faculty, facilities, and student outcomes satisfy the accreditation criteria developed jointly by ABET and the participating professional societies. IEEE's accreditation committee structure describes how CETAA and CEAA together represent IEEE across the full scope of ABET's technical accreditation programs.

Evaluator selection follows a structured pathway: volunteers gain experience as working PEVs, accumulate expertise across multiple site visits, and may then be nominated to CETAA membership. The committee also manages the training and mentoring of new evaluators to maintain consistency in how accreditation criteria are applied across institutions and program types.

Criteria and Standards Development

CETAA is responsible for developing and refining the technology-specific accreditation criteria that ABET uses when reviewing associate- and bachelor's-level engineering technology programs in electrical, computer, and related disciplines. These criteria specify what graduates must be able to do, what topics the curriculum must address, and how institutions must demonstrate continuous improvement. According to IEEE Spectrum's reporting on ABET accreditation, IEEE holds lead-society responsibility for a substantial share of ABET-accredited programs worldwide, and CETAA supports that responsibility for the technology subset of those programs.

The committee coordinates with ABET's ETAC commission and with counterpart bodies in other professional societies to align technology criteria with current industry practice. When ABET revises its general criteria, CETAA participates in the review process and advocates for criteria that reflect the competency expectations of IEEE's technical community.

Relationship to Engineering Technology Education

Engineering technology education occupies a distinct segment of the postsecondary technical workforce pipeline, preparing graduates for roles in manufacturing, installation, testing, and technical support across industries. The ABET accreditation criteria for engineering technology programs define a competency framework that differs from the more theory-intensive requirements for engineering degree programs, with greater weight placed on applied mathematics, hands-on laboratory experience, and industry-standard tools.

CETAA's work ensures that IEEE, as the leading professional society for electrical and electronics engineering, has a voice in shaping how those competencies are defined and assessed, and that the institutions training the next generation of engineering technologists meet a quality bar the profession endorses.

Applications

The Committee on Technology Accreditation Activities has applications in a range of fields, including:

• Quality assurance for associate and bachelor's-level engineering technology programs
• Workforce development pipelines in electrical, computer, and electronic technology
• Alignment of engineering technology curricula with industry competency expectations
• Mentoring and credentialing of IEEE program evaluators for technology accreditation
• International recognition of engineering technology qualifications through ABET