Journey of Bangladeshi Engineering Education to Become a Full Signatory to the Washington Accord in 2024

The accreditation process of engineering degree programs, governed by the Washington Accord, aims to benchmark engineering education across different countries against a set of criteria. This paper presents the journey of Bangladesh to become a full signatory to the Washington Accord with the anonymous support from twenty-three signatory countries of the International Engineering Alliance (IEA) on the 12 June 2024. The Board of Accreditation for Engineering and Technical Education (BAETE), established in 2003 as an independent body of the Institution of Engineers Bangladesh (IEB), is responsible to accredit Bachelor of Engineering degrees offered by Bangladeshi universities and colleges. As Bangladeshi engineering degrees were not accredited before, the engineers were facing multiple challenges to work in the developed countries like the USA, UK, Australia and Canada. These include higher degree research, dignified jobs, bilateral research, foreign investment in Bangladesh, immigration and others. The Australian chapter of IEB played a significant role in achieving this recognition as presented in this paper. It is expected that this recent recognition of Bangladeshi engineering programs will enhance the collaboration of engineering disciplines of both Australia and Bangladeshi universities. The outcome-based engineering educations in Bangladesh as recognized by the Washington Accord will assist Bangladeshi engineers to meet the growing challenges of sustainable development in Bangladesh and other full signatory member countries of Washington Accord.