Certification
- The Diploma course offered by Shanghai Acupuncture College Ireland consists of 1,200 teaching hours meeting the Level 6 requirements set out by Irish Educational System – To date - this is a standard that has only been reached by SACI.
- Our Degree Programme is based on having completed the Diploma Programme requirements and standards with an additional 450 teaching hours – meeting the Irish System of Level 7 qualification requirements.
- Our students are also registered with Shanghai Sixth Medical College.
- It has been claimed by some Acupuncture Colleges that they have completed the HETAC quality and degree validation processes awaiting announcement.
- This is misleading information. Details of this communication are clearly indicated on the HETAC website: Please refer to this link
- http://www.hetac.ie/docs/Applicant%20Providers.pdf
- The current situation as set by the Department of Education HETAC (Higher Education and Training Awards Council) Register as well as all organisations who are officially registered HETAC providers are listed on the website here: http://www.hetac.ie/links.cfm?slD=20.
- It is a standard practice for HETAC to ask organisations who make inaccurate or potentially misleading references to HETAC Registration (innocently or otherwise) to remove such references from their publications, electronic or paper.
- Some Colleges or Institutes claim themselves have completed HETAC validation process etc. that is a false claim which is totally against HETAC’s practice and if you were informed with such statements, it is your duty to report it to HETAC.
- Recent correspondence from Department of Health and Children confirms the centrality of national federation for self-regulation to public policy in this area and endorses HETAC’s approach to linking this step to programme validation. A model of multiple professional bodies operating in a field is not considered sufficient in terms of public policy and is not acceptable to HETAC.
- The key requirement to enable HETAC to accredit any medical related programme is that the field of studies is governed by either a statutory or a single national voluntary regulatory body.
- In light of the above policy context HETAC cannot process any applications for Provider Registration from organisations seeking to offer programmes solely in any of the above categories,
Please also read the following (extract from http://hetac.ie/docs/CM43.pdf):
Council NOTED the Explanatory Memorandum, the Recommendations in
relation to Complementary Therapies and the Standards for Complementary
Therapies circulated as C/A43/6.2.1-6.2.3. Council NOTED that the Standards
for Complementary Therapies had been through two rounds of public
consultation and had also been considered by the Academic Committee at its
meeting on 30 June 2008. Council ADOPTED the recommendation that
HETAC engage initially (but on a pilot basis) only with providers of
programmes of education and training in acupuncture, herbal medicine and
Traditional Chinese Medicine. Council AGREED that during the pilot phase,
only programmes leading to ab-initio major awards at Level 7 and above in the
specified therapies will be considered for validation.
