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This study aims to propose a national frame of reference for the accreditation of engineering programs (EPs) in Tunisia. It uses as a benchmark the structure used by the world’s leading accreditation systems such as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and Commission des Titres d’Ingénieur. It provides a comprehensive framework for academic institutions to evaluate the performance of their programs. In addition, it suggests the procedures, steps and timeline for the application process and defines the required documents that should be submitted.

The study analyzes the standards applied by well-established accreditation agencies such as ABET, Commission Titre Ingenieur and European Accredited Engineer, studies the perceptions of academicians who participated in six workshops and uses the results of surveys and interviews to characterize their opinions about accreditation. A sample population of 146 faculty members, experts and policymakers from 23 different higher education institutions in Tunisia, who had participated in the workshops mentioned above, was solicited to participate in the survey. The opinions of 51 respondents who responded to the survey were analyzed. This methodology led to the establishment of a proposed national frame of reference for accreditation of EPs.

Analysis reveals that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHESR) provides authorization (“habilitation”) to institutions allowing them to offer their educational program. However, it is inaccurate to consider this procedure as accreditation because it is more of a licensure process. In addition, the MHESR grants the “habilitation” to those institutions that successfully apply. The National Authority for Assessment, quality assurance and accreditation Instance Nationale de l’Evaluation, de l’Assurance Qualité et de l’Accréditation (IEAQA) is not involved in this process, which makes the latter’s role trivial.

This frame of reference will help the MHESR to evaluate the EPs based on a comprehensive analysis of well-established accreditation systems, to improve its “habilitation” process by splitting it into two parts as per international practice, namely, licensure and accreditation and to make the existence and role of the IEAQA much clearer.

This study is the foremost study to propose a comprehensive frame of reference for accrediting EPs in Tunisia.

This paper aims to explore individuals’ economic empowerment and political empowerment association and the moderation role of entrepreneurship development programs on this relationship in the context of post-revolution Tunisia, which is a newer developing democracy.

The study uses a quantitative approach based on econometric modeling. A questionnaire was designed and administrated to a stratified random sample of 343 participants in the Entrepreneurship for the Participation and Inclusion of Vulnerable Youth in Tunisia program, funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund and implemented in rural northwestern Tunisia between 2017 and 2021. A coarsened exact matching method is also applied for robustness analysis.

The analysis shows that when individuals have enhanced economic decision-making agency and are involved in economic networks, they are more likely to demonstrate higher political empowerment. It also shows that expanding rural individuals’ economic opportunities by providing entrepreneurial resources, such as entrepreneurial training and microcredit, strengthens individuals’ economic empowerment and political empowerment association.

The study provides practical implications for policymakers in newer developing democracies. Citizens’ political empowerment and inclusion in rural areas could be promoted by developing entrepreneurship development programs, which could help reinforce the citizens-state relationship and establish more stable social contracts. The research also provides practical implications for the international development community, donor agencies and program designers through duplicating similar programs in other countries with weak central government structures (i.e. post-conflict environments, post-revolution).

The research attempts to contribute to the ongoing debates linking entrepreneurship, economic empowerment and political/citizen empowerment. It focuses on a Middle East and North Africa country, Tunisia, characterized by socioeconomic issues and low civic participation.