Education standards

Course accreditation

After extensive stakeholder consultations, ARONAH has approved course Accreditation Standards for educational providers who deliver naturopathic or Western herbal medicine degrees.

The role of the ARONAH Board is to assess educational programs and the capacity of the educational institution offering the award to do so according to specified standards.  The ARONAH Board considers not only the curriculum and the delivery of education but also the ability of the program to ensure quality outcomes, the resources available and the performance of graduates. This is done in conjunction with an independent accreditation assessor.

Educational programs are accredited for a period of 3 years at which time there will need to be a renewal application submitted.

Below are the documents required to apply for course accreditation.

Higher education providers who wish to apply for ARONAH Education Accreditation Standards are required to contact ARONAH via email with an intention to apply, where by an application form, checklist and invoice will be sent to you

A list of accredited courses can be found here.

Background

In 2015, the ARONAH benchmarked and developed the first accreditation standards to guide naturopathic programs in Australia. These standards were developed by the ARONAH Board following invited stakeholder feedback and were benchmarked against primary care professions in Australia and naturopathic education standards internationally. The standards reflected Board consensus on the content, characteristics and resources of a naturopathic medicine program as necessary for:

  1. Graduating safe and effective practitioners capable of working within the broader context of the Australian healthcare systems, and
  2. Achieving its educational mission and objectives.

In addition to recognising the need to circumstantially review the published standards as needed, the Board committed to a comprehensive review of the approved Naturopathic Education Accreditation Standards (2015) in five years.

In response to developing a new program Southern Cross University commissioned ARONAH to engage an independent consultant to lead and conduct a complete review of the accreditation standards to ensure the incorporation of emerging trends in naturopathic practice, and the Australian higher education and healthcare landscape were encompassed. This was commenced in August 2020. SCU were not involved in the review, including but not limited to, the appointment of the independent consultant, the comprehensive stake holder engagement, and industry consultation. SCU only provided feedback alongside the other educational institutions at the appropriate phase. The ARONAH board member employed by SCU was not privy to meetings, documents, or discussions on the standards. This was all conducted through an arms-length process to ensure the integrity of the standards were maintained throughout their development.

The review was conducted across three separate stages, with stakeholders offered the opportunity to provide feedback via survey, written submission, online teleconference, telephone, or face-to-face.

The revised and updated Naturopathic Accreditation Standards reflect an evaluation of the aforementioned emerging trends and were informed, in part, by work conducted in conjunction with the World Naturopathic Federation to ensure that Naturopathic practice in Australia (and the ARONAH member regions) aligns with and the global efforts of the profession. Stakeholder feedback was incorporated at each stage of the consultation process.

Accreditation fees are as follows:

Initial Accreditation Fee

$3,800

Initial Accreditation Fee (duel programs)*

$5,000
Renewal of existing accreditation (no changes to course)

$1,890

Interim notification of minor changes to accredited course
(within the 3 year accreditation period)

$500

Interim notification of major changes to accredited course
(within the 3 year accreditation period)

$2000

*please enquire as to whether your programs meet the criteria for duel application