Accreditation process

Overview

The ADC accreditation guidelines for dental practitioner programs (the Guidelines) outline the steps we follow when accrediting programs.

Process

The review is completed by an Accreditation Team. The Accreditation Team is made up of dental practitioners with extensive clinical and/or academic experience. For programs leading to general registration the team includes a community representative.

To help education providers and assessors evaluate whether a program meets the Standards we created the Prompts for assessment – Assessing an education program against the ADC Accreditation Standards (the prompts). We have also developed guidelines specific to the review of programs allowing graduates to apply for registration as a specialist dentist (below).

Education providers

The ADC accredits programs allowing graduates to apply for registration as a dental practitioner with the Dental Board of Australia. This includes programs leading to endorsement of registration.

The ADC accreditation guidelines for dental practitioner programs (the guidelines) outline the process to accredit education and training programs leading to registration.

Initial accreditation

An education provider seeking accreditation for a new program must first submit a notice of intent. Please contact us for more information about the notice of intent process.

An accreditation visit is organised once the notice of intent is accepted. The education provider is requested to provide a written self-assessment before the accreditation visit. The self-assessment must explain how the program meets the Standards. This is completed using our submission template.

After we accredit a program the Dental Board of Australia decides whether to approve or not approve a program for the purpose of registration. Education providers must wait for the approval decision before they can commence the program.

The accreditation process can take up to 12 months to complete.

We are not responsible for accrediting continuing professional development courses. More information regarding the requirements for continuing professional development courses is available via the Dental Board of Australia.

Reaccreditation

We contact education providers to organise the re-accreditation process 12 to 18 months before a program’s accreditation is due to expire.

Specialist accreditation

We have developed the ADC/DC(NZ) guidelines for the review of specialist dental practitioner programs (specialist guidelines). These provide guidance to education providers offering programs allowing graduates to apply for registration as a specialist dentist.

The specialist guidelines were reviewed in 2019. This review incorporated feedback from education providers, assessors, and specialist academies and societies.

The specialist guidelines:

• explain how assessors are chosen to review specialist programs
• explain that at least one, but no more than two, specialist practitioners from the relevant specialty will be appointed to review a specialist dental program
• explain how multiple specialist programs can be reviewed at the same time
• provide examples of an accreditation visit schedule.

These guidelines are designed to increase the transparency of the process. They also aim to clearly explain how we review specialist programs with the input and expertise of dental specialists.

The specialist guidelines expand on the process in the ADC accreditation guidelines for dental practitioner programs.