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Revised Accreditation Standards now released

The Australian Dental Council (ADC) and Dental Council (New Zealand) (DC(NZ)) have released the revised Accreditation Standards for dental practitioner programs, following a joint review and stakeholder consultation.

While most changes improve clarity and consistency, several targeted revisions strengthen key areas of accreditation, including:

  • moving admissions requirements to Domain 2: Academic Governance and Quality Assurance to strengthen academic oversight
  • introducing two new assessment-focused criteria addressing validity, reliability, fairness, and emerging assessment risks, including artificial intelligence
  • updating Domain 6, now titled Cultural Responsiveness, to strengthen expectations for culturally safe care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The revised Standards will take effect from 1 January 2027. All accreditation activities conducted from 2027 onwards will be assessed against the revised Standards.

You can read more about the standards and find additional information here.

Supporting resources

To support implementation of the revised standards, key accreditation resources have also been updated:

  • Accreditation Guidance Notes have been updated to include explanations of the criteria, examples of evidence and prompts for assessors.
  • Accreditation guidelines have been revised to incorporate all specialist programs and include updated site visit schedules for use in 2027.
  • Accreditation assessor manual now includes information relating to specialist programs, and the Accreditation Team Resource – Interview Protocol (Appendix 1) has been updated to improve usability.

Assessors:

Accreditation Guidance Notes 

Accreditation guidelines for dental practitioner programs

Accreditation assessor manual

Education providers:

Accreditation Guidance Notes

Accreditation guidelines for dental practitioner programs

If you have any questions about the revised standards or accompanying resources, please reach out to the team: accreditation@adc.org.au