What is Accreditation?

Accreditation in postdoctoral education has been around for more than a century. Accreditation is these types of programs are a voluntary, non-governmental process that includes an external review of a institute of higher learning's ability to provide quality programs. Accreditation helps to ensure that students are learning relevant material and that instructors are qualified to teach the material.

Accreditation reviews usually include an hour by hour schedule for the lecture along with the curriculum vitae of the instructor. Often self-evaluations, peer-reviews, committee reviews, and testing metrics are extremely beneficial.

 

What types of Accreditation are available?

Postdoctoral programs seek one of two types of accreditation. One from a university of higher learning, called an "institutional accreditation". The second is a "specialized accreditation", also called third party accreditation, this type of accreditation usually private, non-governmental that are knowledgeable about a particular field of study. These specialized accreditation bodies communicate with schools, potential employers, or the general public to ensure that the coursework has passed a rigorous review and that students are learning all they need to know regarding an area of study.

 

Determining Which Accreditations Matter

Natural Medicine Seminars functional medicine & clinical nutrition programs is approved through a specialized accreditation from the American Academy of Functional Medicine.