Australian Psychology Accreditation Council
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{{Unreferenced, date=July 2022 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 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 indi ...
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 to the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) seeking registration to practice as a psychologist are required to have completed programs of study which are APAC accredited and subsequently also PsyBA approved.


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 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 indi ...
. 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 Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...
; assessing
higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...
providers and their programs of study to determine whether they meet approved
accreditation Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...
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 Quality management ensures that an organization, product or service consistently functions well. It has four main components: quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement. Quality management is focused not o ...
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 Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
and
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
. 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

*
Psychologists Board of Queensland The Psychologists Board of Queensland is a Queensland State Government body empowered by State Legislation to regulate and manage the practice of Psychology in the State of Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland ...


External links


Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC)

Psychology Board of Australia

Health Professions Accreditation Councils’ Forum

International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education
Psychology organisations based in Australia