2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

One of the goals of the Multidisciplinary Engineering Division of ASEE has been to promote engineering programs that are multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, or otherwise categorized as general engineering. This is based on the conviction that graduating engineers would benefit from more breadth than might be available within traditional disciplinary programs. Non-disciplinary programs are currently accredited by ABET under the Criteria: Engineering, General Engineering, Engineering Physics, and Engineering Science. These programs are not evaluated using discipline-specific program criteria in addition to the general criteria. ASEE has served as the lead society for evaluating these programs since 2006.

This project involves an examination of the landscape of accredited engineering programs that are described as general or inter/multi-disciplinary. Periodic analysis and comparison of trends in the number of programs that focus on providing breadth relative to disciplinary program depth helps to identify patterns within engineering education. General programs exist for a variety of reasons. Some prioritize flexibility for students, others the integration of one or more topics (e.g. mechatronics), and others the development of truly interdisciplinary skill sets in students. Some institutions might also use a general program to incubate curricula for later transition to traditional disciplinary programs. Previous papers have classified general programs as having “philosophical”, “flexible,” or “instrumental” purposes.

This paper reviews general engineering programs currently accredited by ABET and categorizes them according to the ABET definition (Engineering, General Engineering, Engineering Physics, or Engineering Science) as well by program characteristics and purposes. It presents a historical trajectory of numbers of institutions and programs in the general program category. The paper concludes with a reflection on the relative success in shifting the balance of breadth and depth in engineering program offerings over the last 20 years.