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How do I get my academic programme accredited?

We are licensed by the Engineering Council to accredit academic programmes from universities and colleges that drive young engineers toward professional registration as a Chartered or Incorporated Engineer.

We can award a maximum of five years’ accreditation and accreditation will be conducted under the fourth edition of the Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes (AHEP 4).

To get started, you’ll need to tell us about the programmes you want to accredit.

We’ve split our submission process into two stages:

  • Stage 1 - Initial submission
  • Stage 2 - Main submission

If we have never visited your university or college before you’ll need to complete the two-stage submission process.

Otherwise, you’ll only need to complete the Main submission stage.

To get started, email uniaccreditation@imeche.org or call +44 (0) 20 7304 6866.

Stage 1 - Initial submission

You’ll need to submit the AHEP 4 Initial Assessment Form for either a UK or International visit to enable a visit to be considered, along with the AHEP 4 Output Standards Matrix.

Make sure you send your documents to uniaccreditation@imeche.org as hardcopies of this form will not be accepted. The required documents can be found towards the bottom of this page.

Stage 2 - Main submission

Once an accreditation visit has been approved and you’ve scheduled your visit, you'll need to send us a copy of the Main Submission Form along with its accompanying documentation, including the Output Standard Matrix.

The required documents can be found towards the bottom of this page.

Once all the documentation is ready it will need to be uploaded to our secure filesharing site Please contact uniaccreditation@imeche.org to arrange access.

Your visit

For visits conducted within the UK, our accreditation team will spend two days with you and your staff, assessing your programmes, facilities and laboratories and talking to your students.

Joint accreditation visits

We are happy to coordinate joint accreditation visits with other professional engineering institutions, such as the IET, RAeS, and others.

International accreditation

We also accredit a number of degree programmes outside of the UK. For more details, download:

Location of study

Engineering Council regulation requires universities to invite the Institution to visit all campus locations involved in the delivery of accredited programmes or otherwise inform us of campus locations where accreditation is not sought.

In light of this, the Institution's process for reviewing academic qualifications for applicants who are applying for Institution membership and professional registration requires all universities that deliver accredited programmes to clearly indicate the location of study of each programmes awarded on the degree transcript.

Applicants for Institution membership and professional registration must submit their degree transcript, along with an authenticated copy of their degree certificate when they apply for professional registration.

Find out more 

Guidance documents and application forms

Full Accreditation criteria

A summary of key changes between AHEP 3 and AHEP 4 has also been published by the Engineering Council:

Guidance on the IMechE criteria for Accreditation

Arranging a visit

An example of our typical visit timetable can be found below:

Making your initial submission

Making your main submission (AHEP 4):

Fees

The academic accreditation visit fee is £3,000.

Additional charges of £1,500 will apply for monitoring visits where required.

Our fee covers administration and volunteer costs during the visit, enabling us to maintain a high-quality service for our academic partners.

For accreditation requests outside the UK, the university seeking accreditation is responsible for covering all associated visit expenses.

Need some advice?

To get started or ask a question, get in touch with our university support team.

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