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Public Health And The Accreditation Process: What Students Need To Know About Accreditation
By Maureen Thompson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Public Health
Director, Undergraduate Programs in Public Health
Chair, Program Review and Assessment Committee
David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics
Our public health program, consisting of our bachelor of science in public health (B.S.P.H.) and master of public health (MPH) degrees, is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), an independent agency recognized by the
U.S. Department of Education to accredit schools and programs of public health.
What Is Accreditation?
In higher education, accreditation is considered a voluntary quality assurance process that colleges and universities undertake to confirm that their academic programs meet high-quality educational standards. Specific to public health accreditation, CEPH says it “assures quality in public health education and training to achieve excellence in practice, research, and service, through collaboration with organizational and community partners” [1]. Accredited status is for a designated period of time. To maintain accreditation, programs apply for re-accreditation before the endpoint of the initial accreditation period. Thus, accreditation is also a form of continuous quality improvement and assurance, whereby schools participate in internal review leading up to the point of re-accreditation.