In the days leading up to New York University Shanghai’s first graduation on May 28, 2017 Casillas Sun, an electrical engineering major, and his classmates received an unexpected request from the university’s administration to attend a meeting regarding their major. One afternoon late in the second semester, Casillas and his fellow engineering majors navigated the quiet halls of the eleventh floor with worry and confusion in their chests. At the end of the hall they entered an office with tall windows to find a middle-aged man hidden behind a large desktop: Keith Ross, the dean of Computer Science and Engineering. Like many college-bound teenagers, Casillas and his peers left their home to earn their degrees in higher education. Unlike the typical college student they elected to be a part of the first American-Sino joint education establishment approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education. Since its opening in 2013, NYUSH has shown its fierce desire to fill the shoes of its mother campus in New York City. It ushered in its largest class to date by welcoming 345 students this past fall, surpassing its target size of 300. The university has also expanded its number of offered majors. Most recently, NYUSH announced in mid-October the launch of its newest major: “Interactive Media + Business” (IMB). Furthermore, the university has plans to move to a new, larger residence hall in 2022 to accommodate its increasing size. Just as much as NYUSH is focused on expanding, it is also focused on globalization. The university’s inherently international background is dually reflected in its student body and its motto “Make the world your major”. The current freshman class represents over 71 countries and territories from around the world, including America, China, Pakistan, India, Mexico, as well as many European and Latin American countries. The essence of NYUSH is its diversity and passion for globalization. The university’s motto encourages students from all walks of life to “ master [their] cross-cultural skills “ and become “global citizens”. Yet as Casillas and his classmates listened to what the dean had to say, NYUSH’s motto becomes less applicable. As they sat listening to Dean Ross, it became clear this meeting wasn’t a congratulatory conference, but in fact it was a meeting notifying them that their engineering degrees lacked accreditation. After four years of hard work, thousands of dollars in tuition, and in the midst of preparing for one of the most, if not the most, important day of their academic careers, Casillas and his classmates were thrown into a world of confusion, worry, and anger. As Casillas simply put it “we were pissed off”. Despite NYUSH’s emphasis on globalization, the engineering majors of the class of 2017 graduated without grounds for a US or international engineering license because NYUSH had yet to seek ABET accreditation. According to the official website of ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology), its accreditation is the “official educational standard against which professional engineers in the United States [are] held for licensure” as well as the “basis of quality for over 40 disciplines all over the world”. ABET accreditation paves the way for students to work globally because it is “recognized...through international agreements”, is required by the US government and many multinational corporations, and is the basis of “many other countries’ national accrediting systems”. Furthermore, the official website emphasizes that ABET accreditation “enhances the mobility of professionals” because it ensures they have met the educational requirements needed to enter in their technical profession. Dean Ross believes the lack of ABET accreditation “shouldn’t be an issue” because it is only “really necessary if you’re going into power and energy” engineering fields since they’re more technically demanding. He emphasized that most American employers only focus on a potential employee’s transcript to determine if he is capable for the position he is being considered for. Ross gave the example of how someone without ABET support could still work at Google as an engineer in a less formal sense, holding a position closer to the equivalent of an engineering guru or technical specialist. However, contrary to Ross’s beliefs when many companies advertise for new hires they specify they want ABET accredited graduates.

When asked if employers outside the US will also focus on the transcript Dean Ross said, “I’ll have to look into that”. After further research I discovered NYUSH is the only NYU campus without ABET accreditation. Dean Ross said NYUSH doesn’t have accreditation, “because at the core, [it’s] a liberal arts school...the classes needed for accreditation are too much for students to handle in addition to the [type of] core curriculum” that comes with a liberal arts education. Yet even as one of the most well known liberal arts universities in the world, NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering in New York has an ABET accredited engineering school, despite its liberal core curriculum. NYU Abu Dhabi has not only ABET accreditation but also CAA (Commission for Academic Accreditation) accreditation in addition to its liberal core Curriculum. In addition to NYU and NYU Abu Dhabi, dozens of other liberal arts universities have ABET accredited engineering programs. Columbia University, one of the most acclaimed universities in the world, is a liberal arts school that provides ABET accredited engineering majors. Harvey Mudd College is ranked first in U.S. News’ 2018 list of Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs and is a private liberal arts school. Bucknell University, Cooper Union, and the US Naval Academy are some of many more liberal art schools offer ABET accredited engineering programs. Dean Ross also cited insufficient faculty as another reason why NYUSH does not have the accreditation. NYUSH’s Engineering faculty includes Dean Ross, Associate Professors Herming Chieuh and Romain Corcolle, and Research Fellow Shuna Sun. Compared to Tandon’s 160+ full time faculty members, NYUSH’s faculty is almost non-existent. Anna Farhan, a current freshman, said that “really bad [engineering] faculty” was what convinced her to no longer pursue an engineering degree, and “settle” with a business degree. Similarly, Kate Thoma-Hillard, a current senior, decided during her junior year to no longer pursue engineering after word spread from the meeting Casillas and his classmates had with Dean Ross. The issues with accreditation and faculty have prompted students like Anna and Kate to take drastic academic measures, including changing majors and even considering transferring out of NYUSH. In the midst of its rapid expansion, NYUSH seems to have forgotten to perform its main function as a university: provide a certified degree in a subject of higher education to its graduates. Without accreditation, engineering students have limited mobility and career opportunities. Even though NYUSH is backed by one of the oldest, richest, and most globalized universities, it fails to have an accreditation that is used around the world or the faculty to support it. If NYUSH engineering graduates cannot fully function in their field, how can they manifest the university`s promise to produce ̈global citizens ̈? As NYUSH continues to focus on satisfying its developmental goals, it doesn’t seem to be prioritizing its students. Consequently, students like Anna are left simply saying, “what’s the point”? This article was written by Hafeeza Mughal. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: NYU Shanghai