Revised IS Program Criteria Approved for a Year of Review / Feedback

At the 24 October 2025 ABET governance meeting, the Computing Area Delegation (CAD) approved for a year of review and comment a pair of proposed revisions to the IS Program Criteria.  These include new language regarding the Information Systems (IS) Environment (Criterion 5b: Curriculum), and change to the requirement for faculty (Criterion 6: faculty).  The new IS Environment wording is that an Information Systems Environment requires “at least 15 additional semester credit hours (or equivalent) of a cohesive set of topics, distinct from computing topics, that constitute a single domain of activity in which information systems are applied to support and enable the goals of that activity. Examples of domains of activity include (but are not limited to) business, healthcare, government, not-for-profit organizations, and scientific disciplines.”   The new proposed requirement for IS faculty is “in addition to the General Criteria faculty requirements, some full-time faculty members must hold a terminal degree with a program of study in information systems.”

The full text of both of these proposed changes can be found here (see pages 3-4).  Please note that these changes are only proposed at this time; there is a year of review and comment before any final action is taken at the Fall 2026 ABET governance meeting.  CSAB and the ABET Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) will review all of the feedback, and make adjustments accordingly, prior to any final approvals.  You can provide feedback on the proposed changes here.

If you are interested in seeking ABET accreditation for your degree program, visit https://www.abet.org/accreditation/what-is-accreditation/eligibility-requirements/ for eligibility requirements and links to relevant documents, contacts, and additional information.