CEPH PURPOSE AND PROCEDURES

The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) is the independent agency officially recognized to accredit graduate schools of public health and certain graduate public health programs outside schools of public health, including graduate programs in community health education and community health/preventive medicine. CEPH assists schools and programs in evaluating content and quality of their instructional, research, and service programs, and grants accreditation to those schools and programs which meet its published criteria.

CEPH accreditation procedures are detailed in a separate manual, which should be used in conjunction with these criteria. Separate criteria documents are published by CEPH for schools of public health and for graduate community health education programs outside schools of public health.

BASES FOR ACCREDITATION CRITERIA

Accreditation of graduate education for public health, as one area of specialized accreditation, is based on the unique functions which graduate public health schools and programs perform in their parent universities and health science centers. Their educational functions derive, in turn, from the variety of functions performed by school and program graduates in the health and medical care system and in society. The goals of those working "to enhance health in human populations, through organized community effort," are to identify the totality of health problems and needs of defined populations, to consider mechanisms by which the needs may be met, and to assure services essential to the health of populations.

The missions and goals of public health schools and programs are focused on preparation of individuals who will serve as practitioners, researchers, and teachers competent to carry out broad public health missions and goals, within and outside schools' and programs' institutional settings.

For purposes of CEPH accreditation it is expected that excellence in education will relate to proficiency in practice. By defining educational quality in terms of competence of the graduates of schools and programs reviewed for accreditation, CEPH criteria help to link learning with application. Graduates who prepare for practice in a defined professional specialty area should be ready, when granted their degrees, to begin their professional careers with competence appropriate to their level of education and the extent of their previous experience, and to continue to keep up with current developments in health and related fields.

CEPH criteria for accreditation, as set out on the following pages, deal with quality of both product and process -- the ends to be achieved through public health educational, research and service activities, the means used to achieve the desired ends, and evaluation of the degree to which the desired ends are attained.

CHARACTERISTICS 

To be considered eligible for accreditation review by CEPH a graduate program in community health/preventive medicine education shall have the following characteristics:

1. The program and its faculty shall have the same rights, privileges and status as other programs which are components of its parent institution.

2. The program shall be coordinated with other disciplines which address the health of the community and focus on instruction, research, and community service. The special learning environment of a program shall provide for interdisciplinary communication, development of professional public health concepts and values, and stress problem-solving.

3. The program shall provide access to a wide array of both academic and professional interests and activities that relate to the health of the public. The program should be part of a rich intellectual climate that stimulates and facilitates multidisciplinary exchanges of ideas between academics and professionals. The program should facilitate an environment which stimulates both individual creativity and initiative and collaborative and cooperative activity among its faculty.

4. The program shall have faculty and other human, physical, financial and learning resources to provide both breadth of educational opportunity in the basic public health knowledge areas noted in Criterion V. and depth of educational opportunities in any areas of specialization that may be offered.

5. The program shall plan, develop and evaluate its instructional, research and service programs in such a way as to assure sensitivity to the perceptions and needs of its students and to combine educational excellence with applicability to the world of public health practice.