On July 1 and 8, 2022, Professor WANG Sunyu, member of China Engineering Education Accreditation Association (CEEAA) and Deputy Director and Secretary General of UNESCO International Centre for Engineering Education (ICEE), QIAO Weifeng, assistant researcher of Institute of Education, Tsinghua University and ICEE, and postdoctoral fellow WANG Yujia were invited to take part in the open and closed sessions of Washington Accord members of the 2022 International Engineering Alliance Meeting (IEAM 2022), as well as the forum and closing ceremony of the meeting. Due to the global pandemic, the meeting was held online.

CEEAA set up an offline venue in Beijing. WANG Qinglin, Deputy Director of the Department of International Affairs, the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and Vice President of CEEAA, HE Wei, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation of CAST, FAN Wei, Director of the Higher Education Evaluation Center (HEEC) of the Ministry of Education and Vice President of CEEAA, ZHOU Aijun, Secretary General of CEEAA, ZHAO Ziqiang, Director of the Accreditation Department of HEEC of the Ministry of Education and others attended the meeting offline in Beijing. Relevant experts of CEEAA viewed the meeting online.
 
On July 1, nine issues were discussed and then voted on at the Washington Accord closed session, including the application for a provisional signatory, the application for review of becoming a signatory, the conclusion of review of becoming a signatory and the periodic review. On July 8, at the forum and closing ceremony of the meeting, the voting results of issues including the acceptance of new members and the periodic review in 2022 were announced. During the meeting, CAST and CEEAA confirmed that CAST will undergo an online periodic review of Washington Accord in the second half of 2022, and the result will be released at the 2023 International Engineering Alliance Meeting (IEAM 2023).

ICEE members discuss at the meeting

The International Engineering Alliance (IEA) consists of four mutual recognition agreements for engineers, including Washington Accord, and three mutual recognition agreements for engineering education. Based on the agreement with the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), ICEE was invited to join the 2019-2021 Revision Working Group of Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies (GAPC) and undertook the translation work of UN working languages except English. The updated GAPC standard reflects the higher, more detailed and more authoritative requirements generally acknowledged for professional competencies of engineering graduates and engineers at different levels, which will play an important role in the accreditation practice of current IEA members and the acceptance of new members.

A group photo after the meeting