Accreditation of international pharmacy programs

Summary

We accredit international pharmacy degree programs to:

• assure their quality against Australian program standards
• offer an independent quality review for improvement

Time frame:

• Initial accreditation: may take up to 30 months for newly established programs
• Re-accreditation: process starts up to 18 months before accreditation expires

Cost:

• See fees for accreditation

On this page:

• About international accreditation
• Applying for accreditation
• Remaining accredited
• Proposing changes to your accredited program
• Contact information

About international degree program accreditation

We accredit international programs against the accreditation standards we use for pharmacy programs in Australia.

See the current list of international accredited pharmacy degree programs.

Accreditation with conditions

We can only ever accredit international programs with conditions. This is because they cannot meet 2 of the criteria from the Australian standards.

An international pharmacy degree program that is 'accredited with conditions' either:

• fully meets all but 2 criteria in the pharmacy program accreditation standards, OR
• substantially meets these standards, and is expected to fully meet all but 2 criteria in a reasonable time frame.

When 'accredited with conditions', the program must report to us as required. Education providers can still deliver these programs, and students can graduate from them with the listed qualification.

Status of graduates

Graduates of the international programs we've accredited are not automatically eligible to register as interns with the Pharmacy Board of Australia.

Once registered in their country of training, these graduates will need to apply for a Skills Assessment as overseas trained pharmacists.

Back to top

Applying for accreditation of a new program

We've provided an overview of the application process here. You can also review the International Degree Program Accreditation Policy and Accreditation Guide. 

Applying to accredit a newly established pharmacy program can take up to 30 months. If you have any questions about the process or timelines, email us.

1. Consult with our accreditation team

When you are planning a new pharmacy program, you should refer to our:

• Accreditation Standards for Pharmacy Programs (APC Standards)
• Accreditation Standards: Performance Outcomes Framework
• Accreditation Standards: Supporting Documents

To let us know you'd like to apply for accreditation, please email us.

We'll ask you to fill out our 'Pre-Application Expression of Interest (EOI)' form. To help us decide if your program can apply for international accreditation, you'll need to show that your program:

• is taught entirely in English
• leads to a qualification that compares to an Australian accredited 4-year Bachelor of Pharmacy program.

You must also show that your university:

• ranks in either Section 1 or Section 2 of the Australian Education International (AEI-NOOSR) Country Education Profile (email us if you're unsure of your section)
• is in a country with an Australian Government Smartraveller travel advice of either a normal or high degree of caution.

We'll review your submitted EOI form, and treat any information you provide as confidential. If your EOI is successful, we'll then send you the appropriate documents and submission details for you to submit your accreditation application.

We recommend telling us you intend to launch a new program early in the planning phase. This will help you to avoid any delays in delivering your proposed new program. Please note, our Accreditation Committee cannot grant program accreditation retrospectively.

Back to top

2. Apply for accreditation

We will email you the accreditation application and submission details after reviewing your EOI.

Submit your completed accreditation application using our template.

We'll review your submission. If your application is not complete, we may return it to you and ask you to amend and re-submit it.

We treat all information you provide to us as confidential.

Accreditation Assessment Team

We'll engage an Accreditation Assessment Team (AAT) of 2 suitably qualified and experienced assessors. They will assess your written application and prepare a report of their findings.

During this stage, we will arrange an online meeting between you and the AAT to clarify any queries the team may have regarding your written submission and proposed program. They may ask you to submit additional information to assist them in preparing their report for our Accreditation Committee.

For details on the assessors skills and expertise, and how we manage conflict of interest, see the Accreditation Guide. Accreditation Guide.

Back to top

3. Wait to hear from us

Our Accreditation Committee (the Committee) will review the Accreditation Assessment Team Report. The Committee may ask for details on any aspect of the report before it decides what to recommend to the APC Board.

The Committee may then recommend that the APC Board either:

• accredits your program with conditions for up to 5 years 
• requires you to address any matters of concern, set a time frame for addressing these, and arrange a site visit
• not accredit your program

The APC Board will consider the Committee's recommendation before deciding on your program's accreditation status.

We'll then let you know the results of their decision. We publish a list of accredited programs on our website.

Back to top

Remaining accredited

If your program is granted accreditation

There a number of regular quality assurance and monitoring activities undertaken to maintain the ongoing accreditation of your program(s). These are outlined in our Accreditation Quality Assurance and Monitoring Policy and include the following activities.

Program monitoring and reporting

Annual reporting

We recognise that many factors can affect whether a program continues to meet the accreditation standards. As part of maintaining accreditation of your program(s), you'll need to submit an annual report that describes:

• student numbers
• staff demographics
• any quality assurance activities you've completed
• other information as required.

We will email you an annual report template to be used for all of your accredited programs. If you need a template re-sent to you, please email us.

The Committee will review your report. In some cases, it may need to impose further reporting requirements on your accreditation.

Other reporting

Some programs may be required to report against conditions and monitoring requirements that the Committee has applied. We will communicate requirements and due dates for your program reporting directly to you.

Site visits

Early in the delivery of your new program and in the final year of delivery for the first cohort of your new program, we will conduct a site visit. We will contact you directly to make the necessary arrangements.

Please note that we may need to cancel or reschedule a site visit if, while we're considering your application:

• Smartraveller's travel advice for your country changes to a higher alert level
• we can no longer guarantee the safety of our evaluators for any reason.

See the Accreditation Guide for details about the structure of the visit.

Back to top

Re-accreditation process

Time frame	Action
Up to 18 months before accreditation expires	We notify you of your upcoming reaccreditation requirements. We negotiate mutually suitable dates for the submission of your accreditation application and the site visit. We appoint an Accreditation Assessment Team (AAT) to undertake the accreditation review.
6 weeks before the site visit	You submit your re-accreditation application and additional documentation.
0-6 weeks before the site visit	The AAT and APC representative reviews your application and additional documentation.
At least 3 months before accreditation expires	The AAT undertakes the site visit.
Before accreditation expires	The AAT finalises their report. The APC Board makes their accreditation decision. We notify you of your accreditation outcome.

Your program accreditation status after re-accreditation may be either:

• accredited with conditions, OR
• accreditation withdrawn.

In some situations, we may need to consider revoking accreditation. For details about these situations, see the Accreditation Guide.

Back to top

Proposing changes to your accredited program

You must tell us as soon as you decide to change anything about your accredited program. Material (major) changes in a program may affect its ability to meet the accreditation standards.

Use the Notification of Change to an International Pharmacy Degree Program form. For examples of types of material changes, see Notification of Change to a Pharmacy Degree Program.

If you are unsure if you should notify us about a change, please email us.

Based on the information you provide, the Committee will assess:

• the likely impact of the change
• whether the change requires re-assessing your program's accreditation status
• whether an Accreditation Assessment Team re-assessment is required
• the documentation needed to support re-assessment

If we determine that your program change is material, you'll need to pay a Material Change fee.

Contact information

Email us if you:

• have questions about program accreditation
• would like to make a complaint about an accredited program.