Australian Dental School accreditation

5 May 2014

What is Accreditation?

Accreditation signifies that a dentistry program provides graduates with the knowledge, skills and professional attributes necessary to safely practice their profession—in this case, we are talking about dental schools in Australia. For a program to be accredited an education provider and the dental practitioner program it offers must meet the Australian Dental Council and Dental Council (New Zealand) Accreditation Standards.

Australian Dental Schools in Australia
Learn more about dentistry schools in Australia

What are the Program Accreditation Standards?
The program accreditation standards specify the criteria against which education and training programs are assessed for accreditation. The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 (National Law) requires these standards to be approved by the Dental Board of Australia for the Dental Profession.
Why are the Program Accreditation Standards being reviewed?
There is a need for the current standards to incorporate contemporary educational practice (e.g., distant education) and encompass new regulatory changes in the education sector (e.g., Australian Qualifications Framework) and governmental directions (e.g., National Prescribing Service competencies).
There is also a requirement under the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency’s Quality Framework for the Accreditation Function for regular review of program accreditation standards. Review of an Australian dentistry program does not mean there is something wrong with the program; it is simply a process to review regulatory changes and past educational implementations.
Since 2010, there has been a reciprocal agreement between Canada and Australia allowing international graduates of accredited dentistry programs from both countries to be considered the same as domestic graduates.
This means that Canadians who have graduated from an accredited Australian dentistry program would only be required to write the same National Dental Examining Board of Canada (NDEB) Written Examination and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) as someone who graduated from a Canadian dentistry program before he or she would be licensed to practice.
So if you have the international experience in mind, a dentistry degree from any one of the following Australian Dental Schools will allow you to practice as a dentist in Canada!

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For more information about how to apply to dental school, Australian Dental School entry requirements, application deadlines, tuition fees, and scholarships, please contact OzTREKK Australian Dental Schools Admissions Officer Adam Smith at adam@oztrekk.com or call toll free in Canada at 1 866-698-7355. Find out how you can study in Australia!

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