Pakistan becomes full signatory of 'Washington Accord'

Lahore [Pakistan], June 22 (ANI): Pakistan on Wednesday became a full signatory of the Washington Accord that facilitates mobility of engineering graduates and professionals at the international level. Pakistan became the full signatory of Washington Accord on June 21, reported Dunya News. As a result of the new agreement, the engineers from Pakistan would no further have to take exams for getting new jobs and admission abroad. In the first stage, graduates from UET Lahore, UET Taxila, GIK and NUST would benefit from the new agreement. Pakistan was granted provisional membership of the Washington Accord in the year 2010. The Washington Accord, signed in 1989, is an international agreement among bodies responsible for accrediting engineering degree programmes. It recognises the substantial equivalency of programs accredited by those bodies and recommends that graduates of programs accredited by any of the signatory bodies be recognised by the other bodies as having met the academic requirements for the entry to the practice of engineering. At present, the Washington Accord member countries include Australia, Canada, Taiwan, Pakistan, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. (ANI)