ABET accreditation criteria are developed to assure the public that graduates from ABET-accredited programs have the competence to enter professional practice. In the rapidly-evolving disciplines of computing, the perception persists that graduates are not ready for employment and companies are not realistic in their expectations of these graduates. For the past two years, the NSF-funded DEAPening Employer Academic Partnerships (DEAP) project has focused on bringing academia and employers together to find long-term solutions to this gap between academic preparation and career readiness. In this session, members of the DEAP leadership will summarize lessons from their experiences and discuss a periodic DEAP survey of computing practitioners that goes beyond individual program advisory boards. The session will also engage with the audience in exploring future synergies between DEAP and ABET accreditation to further strengthen the competence of graduates entering professional practice.
