Accreditation of a new pharmacy school involves three stages:
Preliminary approval
Preliminary approval is granted to a new school to offer a registrable pharmacy degree program after successful initial evaluation of the school and program against accreditation criteria. Preliminary approval is normally granted prior to, or commensurate with, the entry of the school’s first cohort into the program.
Provisional Accreditation
Provisional accreditation of a new school and its registrable pharmacy degree program is granted after successful review of the performance of the school in terms of its ability to satisfy the accreditation criteria, usually after its first year of teaching. Provisional accreditation will continue until a school is able to achieve full accreditation or, in the event of major shortcomings, until accreditation is revoked. Graduates from provisionally accreditated schools have a registrable qualification.
Full Accreditation
Full accreditation may be granted for a period of up to five years to a school and course already having provisional accreditation after it has successfully demonstrated through appropriate evaluative procedures that it has satisfied the full accreditation criteria. A school is eligible for full accreditation after its first cohort of graduates have at least twelve months of practice experience following their period of preregistration training.
Pharmacy schools and registrable degree courses are not eligible for full accreditation until their first graduates have completed one year's work as registered pharmacists