European Accreditation of Public Health Education

Abstract

The European Agency for Accreditation in Public Health Education (APHEA) was launched in 2011. This followed nearly two decades of efforts in a variety of programmes supported by international donor agencies, and others that provided experience and field testing of peer review systems for schools of public health in Europe. The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) Public Health Education European Review (PEER) project, devised with the aid of WHO EURO in the early 1990s and later by the Open Society Institute (OSI) within the framework of a joint ASPHER-OSI Program from 2000-2005, helped to develop a cadre of expertise on the process of international peer review and standards that are compatible with a full accreditation process. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the background, criteria and current pilot phase of European accreditation for the Master of Public Health degree and equivalent study programmes. Undergoing the accreditation process will help longstanding and new schools review their programmes to meet new European accreditation system standards and provide students, graduates and potential employers with confidence in the future acceptability of their credentials. The new accreditation agency was established by a consortium of European public health organisations and represents a new phase for development of standards and quality of education systems in Europe to face the challenges of workforce development for a "New Public Health" era in the 21 st century.

Aus-, Fort- und Weiterbildung in Public Health – wo stehen wir heute?

“…europäische Entwicklung erfolgte jedoch nur sporadisch. So wurde und wird eine strukturierte und supervidierte Weiterentwicklung im Zusammenhang mit einer Akkreditierung über die " Association of Schools Public Health (ASPHER)" kaum in Anspruch genommen [15]. Die inzwischen in Deutschland obligatorische Akkreditierung von Studienprogrammen erfolgt über nationale Agenturen, die zwar mit Fachgutachterinnen und Fachgutachtern arbeiten, aber weniger auf das Themenspektrum als vielmehr auf formale Aspekte konzentriert sind (z.B.…”

The Effect of Using Different Competence Frameworks to Audit the Content of a Masters Program in Public Health

“…One of the ways in which different competence frameworks for MPH programs are being used is as part of internal and external accreditation processes. Indeed, there is no standardized way within ( 6 , 9 ), or between countries for assuring the quality of MPH programs. This becomes more challenging as online distance learning has opened the way for students to be registered with a program from another country.…”

2.F. Workshop: The organization and financing of public health services in Europe

“…APHEA was created in 2011 by a consortium consisting of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA), the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), the European Health Management Association (EHMA), the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) and EuroHealthNet. It is based on the Bologna process that aims to standardize quality and standards in higher education qualifications (Otok et al, 2011). However, it has had very limited impact and by mid-2017, only nine masters programmes in public health, offered by seven higher education institutions in Europe, Australia and Canada had received or were in the process of receiving formal accreditation by APHEA (2017).…”