Final answer:
Accredited means that a program or institution has been officially approved or meets certain standards, which makes it acceptable or satisfactory, but not necessarily excellent.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a program or institution is accredited, this means that it has been officially approved or endorsed as meeting certain standards. The term does not necessarily mean the program is excellent but rather that it is acceptable and meets baseline quality standards set by an accrediting body like the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) for undergraduate engineering programs. It's important to understand that while accreditation implies the program is perceived as adequate and satisfactory for its purpose, it does not indicate that it is exceptional or above average, which aligns with the observation that educational assessment scales, such as letter grades, can shift over time with what was formerly a C-level, or average, achievement, sometimes being re-evaluated as a B or an A.