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EAC comprises 5 stakeholders members (BEM, IEM, MQA, JPA and Industry Employers from practicing professionals from industry and academia.

The Council primary responsibilities are to set policy and conduct approval and accreditation evaluation.

Other functions are as follows:

• Establish and maintain a list of local and foreign accredited engineering programmes.
• Oversee the development and operation of accreditation and mutual recognition of programmes with other countries.
• Keep the Board informed of the activities of EAC. Where necessary make recommendations to the Board.
• Foster the dissemination of developments and best practices in engineering education.
• Advice the Board on public statements or representations that should be made in relation to engineering education.

The Department, Engineering Accreditation Department (EAD), the administrative arm of the EAC together with programme evaluators, make up the accreditation teams, which visit and evaluate programmes seeking accreditation.

There are several active committees within the Department addressing a variety of issues, including, training, accreditation system, strategic planning and finance.

All graduate engineers must register with the BEM to practice engineering in Malaysia. Having an EAC accredited engineering degree is the prerequisite for registration. It is an offence to practice engineering in Malaysia without registering with the BEM as a Graduate or Professional Engineer. Accreditation provides the assurance for the BEM and stakeholders that graduate engineers have the necessary skills and competencies reflected in the graduate outcomes specified by the EAC Engineering Accreditation Manual.

The Public Service Department (JPA) would only allow graduates from the EAC accredited programmes or those recognized by EAC to join the public service. Only programmes accredited by the EAC would be allowed to be offered at the institutions of higher learning in Malaysia, be it at public or private institutions.

Accreditation also provides the assurance to potential employers and public at large as to quality of graduates and the programmes offered at the institutions of higher learning in Malaysia, be it public or private institutions.

The EAC also believes in international benchmarking and is committed towards continual quality improvement in engineering education. As such EAC is also embarking into several initiatives of mutual international recognition such as with the European and Asian networks, apart from Washington Accord. The EAC presently also provides evaluation service on recognition of international degree programmes.

Degrees accredited by the EAC would in the near future be listed in the Registry of the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA). MQA is a unified body established under the MQA Act to be responsible for accreditation for all higher education programmes in Malaysia.

The Act however acknowledges the role of professional bodies in conducting accreditation of professional programmes such engineering. Thus EAC will continue to provide the leadership in accreditation for all engineering programmes in Malaysia.

The EAC establishes the minimum standards for engineering education at the Bachelors level, as specified in the EAC Engineering Accreditation Manual. The Manual has undergone extensive review to incorporate comments from Washington Accord’s sponsors and mentors. The Working group tasked to review the Manual also studied the Washington Accord Signatory members’ accreditation criteria before recommending the changes.