Accrediting your course
Accreditation enhances the credibility of your course and supports student recruitment by demonstrating that your programme meets established, externally verified standards.
Prospective students increasingly look for clear signals of quality and professional recognition. Accreditation shows that your programme:
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Delivers education at an appropriate academic level, supporting critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and safe differential diagnosis within professional acupuncture practice
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Meets comprehensive standards across curriculum, clinical training, and student experience
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Is stable, well-managed and designed to support students through to completion
Accreditation provides confidence that their investment of time and resources is well placed.
The process
BAAB accreditation is the process through which acupuncture education programmes are reviewed against the Board’s Standards of Education and Training for Acupuncture Programmes.
It provides a staged framework from initial proposal through to full accreditation and ongoing review.
New Programme Proposal (NPP)
The process begins with the submission of a New Programme Proposal (NPP).
This stage enables BAAB to review the proposed programme at outline level, including its intended structure, academic framework and approach to clinical training.
Where accepted, the programme proceeds into Initial Accreditation.
Initial Accreditation
Initial Accreditation is the first formal stage of accreditation.
It is granted where a programme has been assessed as sufficiently developed to operate under BAAB accreditation while progressing towards full delivery.
At this stage, the programme is implemented under BAAB oversight and is expected to continue developing in line with approved standards.
Full Accreditation
Full Accreditation is awarded following detailed evaluation of a programme in delivery.
This includes review of curriculum implementation, clinical training provision, assessment processes and programme governance.
Full Accreditation confirms that the programme is operating consistently in line with BAAB standards.
Graduates of fully accredited programmes are eligible for entry into membership of the British Acupuncture Council.
Ongoing Monitoring and Re-accreditation
Once Full Accreditation is granted, programmes are subject to ongoing monitoring through annual reporting and periodic review.
This ensures continued compliance with BAAB standards and supports the maintenance of programme quality over time.
Fees and Applications
Accreditation fees and application costs are provided to institutions on enquiry or at the point of application. Contact us on education@acupuncture.org.uk
Our standards
More information on the standards can be found here:
For the complete accreditation processes, refer to the Accreditation Handbook above or contact the team for a discussion.