We accredit international pharmacy programs to:
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We accredit international programs against the accreditation standards we use for pharmacy programs in Australia and New Zealand.
See the current list of international accredited pharmacy degree programs
An international pharmacy degree program that is 'accredited with conditions' either:
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.
We can only ever accredit international programs with conditions. This is because they cannot meet 2 of the criteria from the Australian and New Zealand standards.
Graduates of the international programs we've accredited are not automatically eligible to register as interns with either
Once registered in their country of training, these graduates will need to apply for a Skills Assessment as internationally trained pharmacists.
We've provided an overview of the application process here. For details, see the Guidelines for International Accreditation (available soon).
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 on accreditation@pharmacycouncil.org.au.
To help us assess whether to consider your application, submit a Pre-Application Expression of Interest (EOI). You'll need to show that your program:
You must also show that your university:
We'll evaluate your EOI, and invite you to apply for accreditation if we'd like you to proceed.
If we invite you to go ahead with your application, you'll need to:
We'll review your application, and treat any information you provide as confidential.
If your application is not complete, we may return it to you and ask you to re-submit it.
We'll establish a team of 3 suitably qualified and experienced team members for the Site Evaluation Team (SET) site visit. The SET will undertake the program assessment. A trained quality auditor will support the SET. We'll also provide an APC auditor to support the SET.
For details on the SET members, see the Pharmacy Program Handbook (available soon).
If we accept your application, we will usually arrange for a SET to undertake a full site visit with you.
Please note that we may need to cancel or reschedule a site visit if, while we're considering your application:
If we need to cancel or deny your site visit, we'll email you to explain our reason.
We'll consult with senior staff at your university to arrange a site visit schedule. The visit will usually take around 3 to 4 days.
You're responsible for ensuring that all relevant staff and students:
See the Pharmacy Program Handbook (available soon) for details about:
Before the end of the site visit, the SET will meet with your Head of School to present their initial findings, including:
Within 20 days, the SET will then prepare a draft report, which your Head of School will be able to check for any factual errors.
Our Accreditation Committee will review the report and any comments from your Head of School. 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:
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. If you're accredited, we'll also:
We recognise that many factors can affect whether a program continues to meet the accreditation standards. To help us assess whether your program can remain accredited, you'll need to submit an annual report. This report must contain:
The Accreditation Committee will review your report. In some cases, it may need to impose further reporting requirements on your accreditation, based on the report.
Programs may also require reporting against any conditions or monitoring applied by the committee. The committee will communicate requirements and due dates for this reporting directly to the program provider.
You'll also need to pay the annual fee.
We accredit programs against the accreditation standards for up to 5 years. Before the end of this time, we'll contact you to ask you to apply for re-accreditation.
Timing and responsibilities for re-accreditation|
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12 months before accreditation expires |
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6-8 months before accreditation expires |
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3 months before accreditation expires |
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Your accreditation status after re-accreditation may be either:
In some situations, we may need to consider revoking accreditation. For details about these situations, see the Pharmacy Program Handbook (available soon).
Material (major) changes in a program may affect its ability to meet the accreditation standards. For examples of types of material changes, see the Pharmacy Program Handbook (available soon).
You must tell us as soon as you decide to change anything about your accredited program. Use the Notification of Change to a Pharmacy Program form.
Based on this information, the Accreditation Committee will assess:
If we class your program change as material, you'll need to pay a Material Change fee.
Email us on accreditation@pharmacycouncil.org.au if you:
See a current list of international pharmacy degree programs that we've accredited
More detailsDiscover the fees that might apply for accrediting your international pharmacy program
More detailsWe accredit pharmacy programs against clear, agreed standards. Find our standards for degree programs, ITPs and vaccination training.
More details