Accreditation

The Portland State undergraduate Bachelor of Science Computer Science degree program is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org , under the General Criteria and the Computer Science and Similarly Named Computing Program Criteria. This national organization sets standards for computer science education defined in terms of curricular content, quality of faculty, and adequacy of facilities.

Accreditation certifies that a program meets or exceeds the minimum criteria for quality education, ensuring a quality educational experience for students.

Accreditation has two advantages for students:

Accreditation is a form of quality control. The CAC sets minimum standards for every aspect of a degree program, and, periodically, they send an evaluation team to examine everything from the degree requirements (which are stiffer than average, at their insistence) to the way classes are conducted and graded. The evaluation team will also interview students, staff, and faculty, and examine our facilities, and curriculum materials. A program is accredited only if everything is up to par.
Accreditation adds real market value to the degree. For example, some companies (particularly those accustomed to hiring engineers) pay better starting salaries, and sometimes job titles, if the employee comes from an accredited degree program.

Program Educational Objectives and Student Outcomes

The design and delivery of our Bachelor's program is guided and informed by a set of program educational objectives and associated student outcomes that are below.

Program Educational Objectives

The objective of the undergraduate program in Computer Science is to produce graduates who, 3-5 years after graduation:

Have made initial advances on a successful career path that leverages the knowledge and skills they acquired in our program;
Consistently demonstrate their commitment, in principle and in practice, to upholding the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethical behavior; and
Exhibit the motivation, preparation, and ability to adapt to rapidly changing technology and to engage in life-long learning.

To achieve these objectives students should master the following learning-based outcomes.

Student Outcomes

Students in the undergraduate program in Computer Science are expected to master the following competencies (learning based student outcomes). Reflecting the high-level structure, the list is organized as two groups, one focused on skills outcomes (using labels that begin with A) and the other on knowledge outcomes (using labels that begin with B).

Graduates of the undergraduate program in computer science will have an ability to:

A1. Analyze a complex computing problem and apply principles of computing and other relevant disciplines to identify solutions.
A2. Design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the program's discipline.
A3. Communicate effectively in a variety of professional contexts.
A4. Recognize professional responsibilities and make informed and equitable judgments in computing practice based on legal and ethical principles.
A5. Function effectively as a member or leader of a team engaged in activities appropriate to the program's discipline.
A6. Apply computer science theory and software development fundamentals to produce computing-based solutions.

B1. Apply knowledge and skills in the foundations of computer science.
B2. Apply knowledge and skills in the area of systems and data.
B3. Apply knowledge and skills in professional design and development.

Notes:

The first groups of outcomes, A1-A6, are the required student outcomes described in the ABET Criteria for Accrediting Computing Programs, 2022 2023 for Computer Science and Similarly Named Programs .
The second group of outcomes, B1-B3, reflect an organization of the knowledge components of our curriculum in line with the taxonomy of the ACM/IEEE CS 2013 Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Programs in Computer Science and the CC2020 Computing Curricula 2020: Paradigms for Global Computing Education . The three areas specified in the adopted outcomes correspond to the following groupings of topics, each of which has approximately the same aggregate weighting in the curriculum guidelines:

Foundations of Computer Science : Algorithms and Complexity (AL), Discrete Structures (DS), and Programming Languages (PL);
Systems and Data : Architecture and Organization (AR), Computational Science (CN), Graphics and Visualizations (GV), Information Management (IM), Intelligent Systems (IS), Networking and Communication (NC), Operating Systems (OS), Parallel and Distributed Computing (PD), and Systems Fundamentals (SF);
Professional Design and Development : Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Information Assurance and Security (IAS), Platform-based Development (PBD), Software Development Fundamentals (SDF), Software Engineering (SE), and Social Issues and Professional Practice (SP).

Mapping Between Objectives and Outcomes

The mapping between the sets of program educational objectives and student outcomes listed above is summarized in the following table:

Program Educational Objectives	Student Outcomes
	Skills						Knowledge
	A1	A2	A3	A4	A5	A6	B1	B2	B3
1. Have made initial advances on a successful career path that leverages the knowledge and skills they acquired in our program	X	X	X			X	X	X	X
2. Consistently demonstrate their commitment, in principle and in practice, to upholding the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethical behavior			X	X	X
3. Exhibit the motivation, preparation, and ability to adapt to rapidly changing technology and to engage in life-long learning	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X

The items on this page were last reviewed and updated by the faculty in Fall 2023.