A general review that ends with a Weakness does not take a program's accreditation away. It starts a shorter cycle: the program keeps its accredited status, fixes what the team found, and proves it to ABET within about two years. How that proof is given depends on which of two actions the commission chose, an Interim Report or an Interim Visit.

The rules are in ABET's Accreditation Policy and Procedure Manual for the 2026-27 review cycle. Here is how the interim cycle runs, from the action to the extension that ends it.

What a Weakness is

ABET's manual defines a Weakness as a finding that a program lacks the strength of compliance with a criterion, policy or procedure needed to be sure the quality of the program will not be compromised. The program is still in compliance, which separates it from a Deficiency, but remedial action is required before the next review. A Concern, one level down, is a finding that the program meets the requirement today but the situation could change; it does not by itself trigger an interim review.

Report or visit: the two interim actions

When a review finds one or more Weaknesses and no Deficiencies, the commission picks one of two actions, each with a typical term of two years:

  • Interim Report (IR). The program submits a written progress report. A team chair normally reviews it, and there is no campus visit.
  • Interim Visit (IV). The program submits the same kind of report, and a team visits to look at the unresolved items in person. The team is a chair and one program evaluator for each program under interim review.

The choice usually follows from the evidence needed. A gap that paperwork can close, such as a missing policy or a documented assessment cycle, suits a report. A gap that has to be seen, such as laboratory facilities or how a revised course actually runs, tends to bring a visit.

What the report has to cover

The interim report must address every Concern, Weakness and Deficiency left unresolved in the program's prior Final Statement, not only the Weaknesses that triggered the action. Like a self-study, it is due to ABET no later than July 1 of the calendar year of the review, uploaded through ABET's accreditation management system as a self-contained file with no live links to outside material.

Programs that do this well treat the report as a short continuous improvement record: for each finding, what the team saw, what the program changed, when, who owns it, and the evidence that the change is working (assessment results, revised syllabi, minutes of the meeting that approved the change). Criterion 4 already asks programs to show that results lead to improvements, so an interim report is that process applied to the team's own findings.

New findings are possible

An interim review is focused, but it is not sealed. The manual allows the team to cite new shortcomings if they become evident during the interim review. A program cannot assume that everything outside the original findings is out of scope.

How the cycle ends

If the remedial action is satisfactory, the commission extends accreditation to the program's next general review. After an Interim Report the action is Report Extended (RE); after an Interim Visit it is Visit Extended (VE). Either extension runs two or four years, which puts the program back on its six-year general review rhythm.

If the commission finds that a Weakness has become a Deficiency, the next step is a Show Cause action instead, which carries a higher stake: a program that does not resolve a Deficiency can receive a Not to Accredit action.

The practical next step

A program that has just received an IR or IV action should read its Final Statement line by line, list every unresolved item including the Concerns, assign an owner and a date to each, and plan to finish the evidence well before the July 1 deadline of the review year. ABET's manual is the governing document; the version for the review year is the one that applies.

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