Program Quality Control
To continuously enhance the quality of our educational program and to make it comparable with those of the first class universities in the world, we strive to get assessed by regional and international quality control organizations such as AUN-QA and ABET. In the following we introduce these two organizations and the results of our actions.
AUN-QA
(ASEAN University Network Quality Assurance)
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional intergovernmental organization comprising ten countries in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei and Laos), which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration among its members and other countries in Asia.
The ASEAN University Network (AUN) is a network of 30 top universities of ASEAN countries. The AUN’s strategic focus built on those identified by ASEAN to facilitate regional cooperation in developing:
- To strengthen the existing network of cooperation among universities in ASEAN and beyond;
- To promote collaborative study, research and educational programs in the priority areas identified by ASEAN;
- To promote cooperation and solidarity among scholars, academicians and researchers in the ASEAN Member States; and,
- To serve as the policy-oriented body in higher education in the ASEAN region.
AUN-QA (ASEAN University Network-Quality Assurance) is established as the ASEAN quality assurance network in higher education with the responsibility to promote quality assurance in higher education institutions, raise the quality of higher education, and collaborate with both regional and international bodies for the benefit of the ASEAN community (according to the official website of AUN-QA http://www.aun-qa.org/).
In December 2015, the Bachelor Degree (BE) of the BME program at IU was accredited by ASEAN University Network Quality Assurance (AUN-QA). This is the first and the only BME program in Vietnam that was accredited by AUN. Further, this program had obtained the highest score ever received by any programs in Vietnam (5.1/6) that had been assessed by AUN and was placed second in AUN at that time.
Because the BE-BME program at IU obtained AUN-QA, BE-BME graduates have the privilege to be accepted to the BME Master’s degree program with favorite conditions.
ABET Accreditation
ABET, incorporated as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc., is a non-governmental organization that accredits post-secondary education programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology. Accreditation is a non-governmental, peer-review process that assures the quality of the post- secondary education students receive. Educational institutions or programs volunteer to be accredited by the Accreditation Commission(s) of ABET, https://www.abet.org, under the General Criteria and Program Criteria periodically to determine if certain criteria are being met.
It is important to understand that accreditation is not a ranking system. It is an assurance that a program meets established quality standards. In addition, the role of ABET accreditation is to provide periodic external assessment and evaluation in support of the program’s continuous improvement process. ABET accreditation provides assurance that a college or university program meets the quality standards of the profession for which that program prepares graduates.
To date, 4,564 programs at 845 colleges and universities in 40 countries have received ABET accreditation. Over 200,000 students graduate from ABET-accredited programs each year, and millions of graduates have received degrees from ABET-accredited programs since 1932.
The Biomedical Engineering of International University received a visit from the ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission on December 9-11, 2018 under the General Criteria and the Bioengineering and Biomedical and Similarly Named Engineering Program Criteria, as part of the accreditation cycle criteria for 2018-2019. The accreditation has been granted until September 30, 2025. To initiate a reaccreditation evaluation visit, a request to ABET must be submitted by January 31, 2024. This process ensures the School of Biomedical Engineering’s ongoing assessment and maintenance of accreditation standards for the specified period.