Endeavour College of Natural Health

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Endeavour College of Natural Health formerly Australian College of Natural Medicine
Type Private
Established1975
Location,
CampusSuburban

address =Level 2, 269 Wickham St., Fortitude Valley Queensland 4006 Australia

telephone =

Contents

Website endeavour.edu.au affiliations =

Endeavour College of Natural Health is a private education institution located in multiple campuses across Australia, specialising in alternative medicine.

History

Endeavour College of Natural Health was established in 1975, originally under the name Australian College of Natural Medicine. This remains the legal entity. The College is a 'dual sector' private education provider, meaning it offers higher education and vocational education and training (VET) courses.

In higher education, Endeavour offers Bachelor of Health Science degrees in a range of Complementary Medicine modalities such as Naturopathy, Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, and also offers a conventional Bachelor of Health Science degree in Nutritional and Dietetic Medicine. [1] The College also offers a higher education Diploma of Health Science for those looking to learn more about the complementary medicine fields prior to stepping into a degree.

VET courses in various alternative modalities are also provided by the College, ranging from the certificate level to diplomas.

Endeavour operates several Australian campuses in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Perth. [2]

In 2015, the college was sold by its parent company Vocation to Study Group International for AUS$75 million. [3] In 2018, Study Group International sold off its most valuable asset, Endeavour, to Allegro Funds at a staggering loss to repay significant government debts. Allegro Funds operating as Education Bidco remains the private equity owner.

Criticism

In 2010, an audit by the Australian Universities Quality Agency reported that "students expressed the view that the college does not take sufficient responsibility for the student experience" and that the college "has a number of cultural challenges which it must overcome and these go to the core of how the college is operating as a higher education provider", noting a lack of managerial oversight and a need for clearer oversight of decision-making. [4] Re-registration of the College as a higher education provider in 2014 showed most of these issues had been addressed appropriately.

It has also come under additional criticism since the 2015 Review of the Australian Government Rebate on Private Health Insurance for Natural Therapies. [5] The college submitted a statement to this review, including claiming efficacy of pseudomedicine methods including homeopathy, [6] [7] Its former lecturers have also received criticism for their spreading anti-vaccination misinformation. [8]

Related Research Articles

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The Alexander Technique, named after its developer Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869–1955), is an alternative therapy based on the idea that poor posture causes a range of health problems. The American National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health classifies it as a "psychological and physical" complementary approach to health when used "together with" mainstream conventional medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naturopathy</span> Form of alternative medicine

Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. Difficult to generalize, these treatments range from the pseudoscientific and thoroughly discredited, like homeopathy, to the widely accepted, like certain forms of psychotherapy. The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine rather than evidence-based medicine, although practitioners may use techniques supported by evidence. The ethics of naturopathy have been called into question by medical professionals and its practice has been characterized as quackery.

<i>Shiatsu</i> Japanese alternative medicine bodywork practice

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Rolfing is a form of alternative medicine originally developed by Ida Rolf (1896–1979) as Structural Integration. Rolfing is marketed with unproven claims of various health benefits, is recognized as pseudoscience and has been characterized as quackery. It is based on Rolf's ideas about how the human body's "energy field" can benefit when aligned with the Earth's gravitational field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bastyr University</span> Alternative medicine university

Bastyr University is a private alternative medicine university with campuses in Kenmore, Washington, and San Diego, California. Programs include naturopathy, acupuncture, Traditional Asian medicine, nutrition, herbal medicine, ayurvedic medicine, psychology, and midwifery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reflexology</span> Alternative medical practice involving pressure to parts of the body

Reflexology, also known as zone therapy, is an alternative medical practice involving the application of pressure to specific points on the feet, ears, and hands. This is done using thumb, finger, and hand massage techniques without the use of oil or lotion. It is based on a pseudoscientific system of zones and reflex areas that purportedly reflect an image of the body on the feet and hands, with the premise that such work on the feet and hands causes a physical change to the supposedly related areas of the body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quackwatch</span> American alternative medicine watchdog website

Quackwatch is a United States–based website, self-described as a "network of people" founded by Stephen Barrett, which aims to "combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct" and to focus on "quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere". Since 1996 it has operated the alternative medicine watchdog website quackwatch.org, which advises the public on unproven or ineffective alternative medical remedies. The site contains articles and other information criticizing many forms of alternative medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edzard Ernst</span> German academic physician and researcher (born 1948)

Edzard Ernst is a retired British-German academic physician and researcher specializing in the study of complementary and alternative medicine. He was Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, the world's first such academic position in complementary and alternative medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National University of Natural Medicine</span> Private school in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) is a private university of naturopathic medicine, Classical Chinese medicine, and nutrition located in Portland, Oregon. The school has approximately 553 students.

Alternative veterinary medicine is the use of alternative medicine in the treatment of animals. Types alternative therapies used for veterinary treatments may include, but are not limited to, acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy, ethnomedicine and chiropractic. The term includes many treatments that do not have enough evidence to support them being a standard method within many veterinary practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regulation and prevalence of homeopathy</span> Alternative medicine

Homeopathy is fairly common in some countries while being uncommon in others. In some countries, there are no specific legal regulations concerning the use of homeopathy, while in others, licenses or degrees in conventional medicine from accredited universities are required.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine</span>

The Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM) is a private, not-for-profit institution with two campus locations: the CCNM -Toronto Campus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the CCNM -Boucher Campus in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.

The Ministry of Ayush, a ministry of the Government of India, is responsible for developing education, research and propagation of traditional medicine and alternative medicine systems in India. Ayush is a name devised from the names of the alternative healthcare systems covered by the ministry: ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa, and homeopathy.

The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) is a regulatory body in the United Kingdom which provides a voluntary register of complementary, rather than alternative medicine, therapists. The key purpose of CNHC is to act in the public interest and enable proper public accountability of the complementary therapists that it registers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine</span> A specialist alternative medicine hospital located in London

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australasian College of Natural Therapies</span>

Australasian College of Natural Therapies (ACNT) is an Australian private natural health college that offers both tertiary education and vocational education and training.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern School of Natural Therapies</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friends of Science in Medicine</span> Australian association which supports science-based medicine

The Friends of Science In Medicine (FSM) is an Australian association which supports evidence-based medicine and strongly opposes the promotion and practice of unsubstantiated therapies that lack a scientifically plausible rationale. They accomplish this by publicly raising their concerns either through direct correspondence or through media outlets. FSM was established in December 2011 by Loretta Marron, John Dwyer, Alastair MacLennan, Rob Morrison and Marcello Costa, a group of Australian biomedical scientists and clinical academics.

Alternative medicine describes any practice which aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine, but which lacks biological plausibility and is untested or untestable. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), integrated medicine or integrative medicine (IM), and holistic medicine are among many rebrandings of the same phenomenon.

References

  1. Study Naturopathy, Nutritional & Dietetic Medicine and Natural Health Courses | Endeavour College
  2. "- Endeavour College of Natural Health". Archived from the original on 2016-07-02. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  3. Loussikian, Kylar (23 September 2015). "Vocation executives raking it in, despite share price plunge". The Australian. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  4. Hare, Julie (10 November 2010). "Endeavour College fails student experience test". The Australian. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  5. Cervini, Erica (2015-11-23). "Review of alternative therapies should prompt scrutiny of university courses". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  6. Crouch, Seroya (2013). "RE: Review of the Australian Government Rebate on Private Health Insurance for Natural Therapies" (PDF). health.gov.au.
  7. Ernst, Edzard (2010-04-19). "Homeopathy: what does the "best" evidence tell us?". The Medical Journal of Australia. 192 (8): 458–460. doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03585.x. PMID   20402610. S2CID   42180344.
  8. "Anti-vaccination health practitioner, Karen McElroy". www.dilutedthinking.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 2020-03-22.