Australian Psychology Accreditation Council

Last updated

The Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) is an independent quality and standards organisation appointed by Australian Governments under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 as the accrediting authority for the education and training of psychologists in Australia. APAC's main role is to assess programs of study in psychology and the education providers offering them, to ensure that graduates of APAC-accredited programs are adequately qualified to safely employ their psychological knowledge and skills in the community. Applicants seeking registration to practice as a psychologist though the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) are required to have completed programs of study which are APAC accredited and subsequently approved by the Psychology Board of Australia.

Contents

Governance

APAC was formed in 2005 and is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee established to develop and maintain national standards for the education and training of psychologists. APAC is governed by a board of 12 directors comprising: 4 directors nominated by the Psychology Board of Australia, 4 directors nominated by the Heads of Department and Schools of Psychology Association, and 4 directors nominated by the Australian Psychological Society.

Functions

APAC's functions include: the development of standards for education, training and assessment of competence in psychology; assessing higher education providers and their programs of study to determine whether they meet approved accreditation standards; assessing accrediting and examining authorities in other countries to determine whether graduates accredited by them have the knowledge, skills and professional attributes necessary to practise in Australia; promoting quality improvement among higher education providers, and advising the PsyBA, government and other agencies regarding education and training in the psychology discipline.

Accreditation

APAC accredits over 420 courses and 40 higher education providers operating in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. Accreditation is for a term of 5 years following a phased assessment process including a site visit by a team of assessors. Regular compliance reporting by education providers is a condition of accreditation. APAC also conducts a program of monitoring and auditing of accredited programs and providers to determine if standards are continuing to be met. Re-assessment may be required where significant changes to providers and/or their programs of study have occurred, or where credible information has been received that an accredited program has ceased to meet the required standards. APAC is a member of the Health Professions Accreditation Councils’ Forum and the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education.

See also

Related Research Articles

Medical psychology or medico-psychology is the application of psychological principles to the practice of medicine, primarily drug-oriented, for both physical and mental disorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychologist</span> Professional who evaluates, diagnoses, treats and studies behavior and mental processes

A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how individuals relate to each other and to their environments.

School psychology is a field that applies principles from educational psychology, developmental psychology, clinical psychology, community psychology, and behavior analysis to meet the learning and behavioral health needs of children and adolescents. It is an area of applied psychology practiced by a school psychologist. They often collaborate with educators, families, school leaders, community members, and other professionals to create safe and supportive school environments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doctor of Psychology</span> Doctoral degree

The Doctor of Psychology is a professional doctoral degree intended to prepare graduates for careers that apply scientific knowledge of psychology and deliver empirically based service to individuals, groups and organizations. Earning the degree was originally completed through one of two established training models for clinical psychology. However, Psy.D. programs are no longer limited to Clinical Psychology as several universities and professional schools have begun to award professional doctorates in Business Psychology, Organizational Development, Forensic Psychology, Counseling Psychology, and School Psychology.

Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are psychological assessment, clinical formulation, and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration. In many countries, clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession.

The Australian Medical Council (AMC) is an independent national standards and assessment body for medical education and training. It was established in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Psychological Society</span> Professional association for psychologists

The Australian Psychological Society (APS) is the peak body for psychology in Australia. The APS has more than 27,000 members, making it the largest professional body representing psychologists in Australia. The Society's Code of Ethics was adopted in 2007 and became the Code of Ethics for the profession in Australia in 2010 when it was taken up by the newly formed Psychology Board of Australia. The APS also provides members with recommendations of appropriate fees to charge for their professional services.

Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks.

A national qualifications framework (NQF) is a formal system describing qualifications. 47 countries participating in the Bologna Process are committed to producing a national qualifications framework. Other countries not part of this process also have national qualifications frameworks.

The scientist–practitioner model, also called the Boulder Model, is a training model for graduate programs that provide applied psychologists with a foundation in research and scientific practice. It was initially developed to guide clinical psychology graduate programs accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA).

The Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ), (HKCAA) is a statutory body established under the HKCAAVQ Ordinance which came into effect on 1 October 2007.

The prescriptive authority for psychologists (RxP) movement is a movement in the United States of America among certain psychologists to give prescriptive authority to psychologists with predoctoral or postdoctoral graduate-level training in clinical psychopharmacology; successful passage of a standardized, national examination ; supervised clinical experience; or a certificate from the Department of Defense Psychopharmacology Demonstration Project; or a diploma from the Prescribing Psychologists Register to enable them, according to state law, to prescribe psychotropic medications to treat mental disorders. This approach is non-traditional medical training focused on the specialized training to prescribe for mental health disorders by a psychologist. It includes rigorous didactics and supervised clinical experience. Legislation pertaining to prescriptive authority for psychologists has been introduced over 180 times in over half of the United States. It has passed in six states, due largely to substantial lobbying efforts by the American Psychological Association (APA), the largest professional organization of psychologists in the world with over 146,000 members. Prior to RxP legislation and in American states where it has not been passed, this role has been played by psychiatrists, who possess a medical degree and thus the authority to prescribe medication, but more frequently by primary care providers who can prescribe psychotropics, but lack extensive training in psychotropic drugs and in diagnosing and treating psychological disorders. According to the APA, the movement is a reaction to the growing public need for mental health services, particularly in under-resourced areas where patients have little or no access to psychiatrists.

Adler University is a private university, with two campuses in North America. The university's flagship campus is in Chicago, Illinois, and its satellite campus is located in Vancouver, British Columbia. The university also offers online classes and degree programs online for both masters and doctoral students.

The Malaysian Qualifications Framework or the MQF is a unified system of post secondary qualifications offered on a national basis in Malaysia. It is administered by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), a statutory body under the purview of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universidad Azteca</span> University in Mexico

The Universidad Azteca is a private university in Chalco, Mexico in a community in Mexico State in the greater Mexico City area. Universidad Azteca is a private university with recognition of the Official Validity of Studies awarded by the Federal Secretary of Education (RVOE), accredited by the Federal Ministry of Education of the Republic and recognized by the Federal Government to provide higher education and award graduate and postgraduate university degrees. According to the Mexican Higher Education Laws, Universidad Azteca is authorized to offer study programs and award degrees with RVOE and offer autonomous programs and award academic degrees of the university. The study areas with RVOE (accreditation) are Administration Informatics; Architecture; Business Administration; Education Sciences; International Commerce; Law; Pedagogics; Psychology; Public Accounting. The University awards undergraduate Bachelor, graduate Master, postgraduate Master and Doctoral degrees in international programs in accordance with the Bologna Process and issues a Diploma Supplement. Universidad Azteca International Network System is the university extension, collaborating with other universities globally and branch campus facilities in Austria, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, India, Bangladesh named BITHM College of Professionals.

Higher education accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of post-secondary educational institutions or programs are evaluated to determine if applicable standards are met. If standards are met, accredited status is granted by the agency.

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is Australia's independent national quality assurance and regulatory agency for higher education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation</span> Recognised accreditation body

The Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA) is recognised accreditation body in all German speaking countries (Germany-Switzerland-Austria), FIBAA was founded in 2002 to accredit schools of business. Since the launch of the European Bologna Process, along with the transition to bachelor's and master's programs and the growing independence available to higher education institutions (HEIs) in designing their degree programs, the call for the HEIs to establish and advance sound and transparent quality assurance systems has grown continuously.

Everett Lowell Kelly was an American clinical psychologist, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, president of the American Psychological Association (1954–55), and chairman of the Executive Committee for the Boulder Conference on Graduate Training in Clinical Psychology (1948–49).

References