AACP Admissions Workshop

Understanding ACPE Standards and Guidelines Pertaining to Admissions

Robert Beardsley, PhD

University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

President, ACPE Board of Directors

 

J. Gregory Boyer, PhD

ACPE Executive Assistant Director, and

Director, Professional Degree Program Accreditation

Objectives To provide an overview of the ACPE Standards and

Guidelines that pertains to admissions

  To emphasize the importance of sound admissions

processes to assure the quality of pharmacy education

To receive feedback from admissions officers regarding current and future standards

Key Issues Related to Admissions Quality of pharmacy education starts here Recruitment

Attracting a solid applicant pool

Use of social media, websites

Confusion over new schools Admissions process

Interviewing processes

Involvement of students, preceptors, alumni

Role of Standards/Guidelines Built on past experiences to assure quality

Set expectations for colleges and schools based on peer practices

Relevant Standards and Guidelines

Organization of Student Services (Std16)

Importance of competent admissions staff and appropriate oversight of admission processes

Need strong relationships with financial aid personnel and other university student affairs staff

Need for clearly articulated technical standards

Most common issues with this standard

Admission Criteria, Policies, and Procedures (Std 17)

Most relevant standard to admissions; the heart of quality in the admissions area

Standards and Guidelines provide a roadmap for establishing quality

Most common issues with this standard

Transfer and Waiver of Credit (Std 18)

Not an issue for many programs

However, can be problematic if not clearly communicated to transfer students or administered inconsistently

Most common issues with this standard

Program Information (Std 21)

A key component to effective and truthful recruitment

Accurate information must be disseminated to prospective students

Most common issues with this standard

Issues Facing the Academy

Maintaining quality when applicant pool numbers decline

Identifying correlations between admissions characteristics and student learning outcomes

Addressing increasing interests of those with non-US training in US enrollment with advanced standing or post-BS PharmD

Impact of competition for most academically qualified minority students

Impact of varying preprofessional requirements

Standards Revision Process Collect feedback from Stakeholders (Jan-May 2013)

Revise documents (May-Dec 2013)

Draft documents approved by Board (Jan 2014)

Documents distributed to Stakeholders; hearings held at various venues (Jan-July 2014)

Continued revision of documents (Aug-Dec 2014)

Standards Revision Process (cont) Final documents approved by Board and timeline for

implementation established (Jan 2015)

Documents distributed to Stakeholders (Feb 2015)

Changes made to AAMS; training of site teams and other activities (Feb 2015 – Aug 2016)

Anticipated date for use of new standards (Fall 2016)

Comments and Questions from Workshop Participants