REVOLUTION
PHARM.D EXCLUSIVE :
Mike
Rouse Director, International Services,Accreditation Council for Pharmacy
Education (ACPE) USA issued a clarification exclusively to Revolution Pharm.D regarding ACPE accreditation
to Indian pharm.d students.He said that the statements in press and other media regarding PCI to give ACPE accreditation to Indian pharm.d
students are incorrect. ACPE does not provide such programmes,as was implied in
the article.ACPE offers accreditation to providers of Continuing Pharmacy
Education (CPE),some of which offer such educational activities.
Explaining the same to Revolution Pharm.d he said“For
several years, ACPE has been collaborating on an informal basis with the
Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) on initiatives to advance the quality of
pharmacy education in India.ACPE and PCI have not established any formal
working relationship and PCI is not authorized to
offer ACPE accreditation to PharmD programs in India, as was implied by
several statements published earlier this year in various media. ACPE is aware
that PCI is enhancing its own quality framework for Pharmacy education in
India, and is supportive of this initiative”
“ACPE
accredits one PharmD program based outside the USA; the program was accredited
in 2002 and it has maintained its accreditation status since that time. Several
years ago, the ACPE Board of Directors resolved that it was no longer going to
offer accreditation to PharmD programs based outside the United States.
That policy is still in place and ACPE does not intend to offer accreditation
to pharmacy degree programs that are based outside the United States.
In
2011, ACPE established an International Services Program (ISP). In doing this,
ACPE’s primary aim is to assist countries in their efforts to improve the
knowledge and skills of their pharmacists and enhance and expand local
resources where needed, thereby contributing to improved patient and population
health care outcomes in those countries. As will be see from the attached press
release, ACPE’s ISP will offer a range of services, including structured
evaluation of pharmacy degree programs based outside the United States. If a
degree program is in compliance with the quality criteria/standards (which are
currently under development), the program can be “recognized” or “certified”
by ACPE (the term to be used has not yet been finalized). It is anticipated
that the quality criteria/standards will be adopted by ACPE in June 2012, and
thereafter ACPE – through its ISP – will be offering recognition/certification
to pharmacy degree programs outside the United States. A number of schools of
pharmacy in India have already expressed interest in having their degree
program(s) recognized/certified by ACPE, but applications for such
recognition/certification are not yet being accepted by ACPE. There will be
announcements by ACPE to this effect after the quality criteria/standards,
policies and procedures, etc., are all in place. We expect this to be in the
second half of 2012. To stress again a point
made earlier, ACPE will offer this service directly to schools of pharmacy in
India; it will not be done through PCI. It is currently envisioned that schools
of pharmacy based outside the Unites States will be required to be “accredited”
through whatever quality assurance system exists for pharmacy education in
their country, in order to be eligible to apply for recognition/certification
by ACPE; however, these policy issues still have to be finalized.”
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