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Accreditation is the process of assessing education providers and their educational programs of study to ensure that the provider and program produce graduates who have the knowledge, skills and professional attributes to competently practise in the profession.
The Podiatry Accreditation Committee (Accreditation Committee) is the accreditation authority for podiatry. The Accreditation Committee was established by the Podiatry Board of Australia (the National Board). The Accreditation Committee:
For more information, see the accreditation authorities under the National Law page and the Accreditation Committee page.
Accreditation standards are used to assess whether an education provider and its program of study provides graduates of the program with the knowledge, skills and professional attributes to practise the profession. See the accreditation standards page for more information.
The accreditation standards used to assess podiatry programs of study and education providers can be viewed on the Accreditation Publications and Resources page.
An approved program of study qualifies a graduate to apply for registration as a health practitioner. Programs of study are approved by the National Board.
The Board-approved podiatry programs of study are listed on the approved programs of study page.
The Accreditation Committee assesses education providers and programs against the accreditation standards and decides whether or not to accredit the provider and program. The National Board considers the Accreditation Committee’s decision and their report and decides whether or not to approve an accredited program as a qualification for registration as a podiatrist.
An education provider must apply to the Accreditation Committee for assessment of their program of study. The Accreditation Committee will appoint a team of trained assessors to assess the education provider and program against the relevant accreditation standards. This includes evaluating the application and visiting sites where the education provider delivers the program, including some clinical sites. The assessment team then reports its assessment findings to the Accreditation Committee.
The Accreditation Committee considers the assessment team report and decides whether or not to accredit the program, with or without conditions.
If the Accreditation Committee decides to accredit a program of study (with or without conditions), it gives the National Board a report about its accreditation decision. The National Board then decides whether it will approve, or refuse to approve, the accredited program of study as leading to a qualification for registration.
The National Board has published its approved programs of study on the Ahpra website.
When a program of study is accredited with conditions, it means the Accreditation Committee has decided that, on the basis of the assessment team’s findings:
The Accreditation Committee will advise the education provider about what types of reports are required to demonstrate compliance with the conditions and when any reports are due.
An education provider that has changed, or plans to change, a program that is on the National Board’s list of approved programs must notify the Accreditation Committee about the change. Contact the Program Accreditation Team for more information.
An education provider must complete the application form for accreditation assessment and submit the form plus all required documents to the Program Accreditation Team. For more information, see the Applying for accreditation page.
Education providers should notify the Accreditation Committee as soon as possible. This includes education providers that are planning to start new programs.
The Accreditation Committee will negotiate arrangements and timeframes for assessment of the program with the education provider. See the Applying for accreditation page for more information.
Under the National Law, the Accreditation Committee must monitor each approved program of study to ensure it continues to be satisfied the program and provider continue to meet the accreditation standards.
The Accreditation Committee will advise each provider directly about what reports it needs to submit to the Committee.
For more information, see the Guidelines for accreditation of education and training programs.
One of the pathways to qualify for registration is to hold a qualification from an approved program of study. See the programs of study approved by the National Board.
The Accreditation Committee does not deal with registration matters. For registration matters, contact Ahpra’s Customer Service team.
No. There is a separate process with specific registration standards that must be met when you apply for registration as a health practitioner.
For more information about the graduate registration process, visit the Graduate Applications page on the Ahpra website.
It could mean that your program is not currently approved by the National Board. Contact Ahpra's Customer Service team for more information.
The Accreditation Committee establishes teams to assess education providers and programs of study against accreditation standards.
Visit the Assessors page for information about assessment teams and any Accreditation Committee call for applications.