PharmD Info

The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) is the national agency for the accreditation of professional degree programs in pharmacy and providers of continuing pharmacy education. ACPE (until 2003 known as the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education) was established in 1932 for the accreditation of professional degree programs in pharmacy, and in 1975 its scope was broadened to include accreditation of providers of continuing pharmacy education (www.acpe-accredit.org). ACPE expanded its activities to include evaluation and certification of professional degree programs internationally in 2011 and entered into a collaboration with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) to accredit pharmacy technician education and training programs beginning in 2014. The mission of ACPE is to assure and advance quality in pharmacy education. ACPE is an autonomous and independent agency whose Board of Directors is appointed by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) (three appointments each), and the American Council on Education (ACE) (one appointment). Since the inception of its accreditation agency recognition program in 1952, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) has continuously recognized ACPE. ACPE also gained recognition by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) in April 2004. State boards of pharmacy require that licensure applicants from the United States have graduated from an accredited pharmacy degree program to be eligible to sit for the North American Pharmacist Licensure ExaminationTM (NAPLEX®). Importance