ISPSO Accreditation¶

Mandatory accreditation of study courses leading to a federal diploma is prescribed by the federal law of June 23, 2006 on university medical professions (law on medical professions, LPMéd). This concerns study courses in human medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine as well as pharmacy and chiropractic.

In addition, the Federal Act on the Encouragement and Coordination of Higher Education Institutions (LEHE) of September 30, 2011 also includes an accreditation obligation for all higher education institutions (institutional accreditation) and optional accreditation for university education courses (program accreditation).

Accreditation procedure¶

The accreditation of university courses must therefore meet both the LEHE criteria for program accreditation and those of the LPMéd (quality standards).

In both cases, the accreditation body is the Swiss Accreditation Council (CSA).

ISPSO (formerly EPGL) obtained a first accreditation in 2011, after having been part of the sections of the Faculty of Sciences which were audited in 2008. This accreditation was valid until 2019, which is why a re-accreditation procedure was initiated in 2018.

The Accreditation and Quality Assurance Agency (AAQ) is the accreditation body and carries out quality control in a combined procedure.

The aim of accreditation is to evaluate the quality of study courses on the basis of quality standards (QS) according to the LEHE and the LPMéd, in the areas of "training objectives", "design", "implementation" and "quality assurance" of the sector. The quality standards are supplemented and clarified by explanations. They serve as a basis for self-assessment by the faculty/college and assessment by external experts.