Appeals - The Australian Dental Council

Appeal an acreditation decision

There may be cases where an education provider wishes to appeal an accreditation decision. An education provider may appeal the following accreditation decisions:

  • the content of an accreditation visit report, or
  • a decision to revoke accreditation, refuse to accredit, or to accredit subject to conditions.

There are two grounds for an appeal:

  1. The manner in which the accreditation process has been conducted has been procedurally unfair. This may include, for example, allegations that due process has not been followed.
  2. The outcome of the accreditation process is unjustified or unreasonable based on the available evidence.

An appeal must be made in writing within one month of an education provider being notified in writing of an accreditation decision. If an appeal is made the decision appealed against will not take effect until the outcome of the appeal, unless otherwise agreed with the education provider.

The ADC will establish a review panel to review the education provider’s submission, relevant reports, and documentation. This panel will include at least one head of an ADC accredited program, one senior academic from another ADC accredited program, and a person with experience in accreditation.

During the review the education provider will be invited to provide oral submissions to the panel. The review panel will have the discretion to interview staff, students, and other relevant people. They may also inspect facilities where it determines that such actions are necessary to make an informed judgement.

The review panel will prepare a report based on its investigation. This report will be provided to the education provider. They will be given the opportunity to respond to any issues raised in the report before the ADC Board of Directors makes a final decision on the content of the accreditation team report, program accreditation status and/or conditions.

More information about the appeal process is available in our ADC Program accreditation appeals policy (PDF, 124KB).