Accreditation for International Programs

Accreditation for International Programs

Recognizing that educational institutions are expanding their nursing programs to foster access and that such expansion initiatives increasingly involve global outreach efforts, the ACEN strongly encourages and welcomes international (non-U.S.) nursing programs to pursue international nursing accreditation with the ACEN. The ACEN is committed to quality in all types of nursing education programs and encourages self-evaluation, peer review, and the promotion of educational equity, access, and mobility through the functions of accreditation.

Benefits of ACEN Accreditation

• Increases your global reach
• Helps your students meet U.S. undergraduate and graduate level nursing program admission requirements
• Facilitates the transfer of credits
• Provides recognition that your nursing program has been evaluated, and periodically re-evaluated, by a qualified independent group of peers and demonstrates the extent to which the program meets appropriate educational purposes and standards of educational quality specific to nursing education
• Fosters ongoing self-evaluation, re-evaluation, and focus on the future
• Heightens faculty members’ and administrators’ awareness and responsiveness to areas needing improvement
• Assists employers seeking graduates who are competent practitioners

Eligibility and Candidacy

All nursing education programs accredited by the ACEN must meet the following eligibility requirements as listed below:  

• Placement within a governing organization that is accredited by an approved accrediting agency or holds unconditional approval by the appropriate regulatory agency that has legal authority for education programs within the country.
• Facilitates the transfer of credits

Nursing education programs located outside the United States and its Territories must meet the following additional eligibility requirements.

• Program faculty and students must speak and understand English. The program must produce all documents and written materials required for the accreditation processes in English.
• The region in which the program is located must be safe for travel as identified by the U.S. State Department at the time of the travel for the ACEN peer evaluators and/or staff.
• Program must agree to host a minimum of two onsite visits, including a mandatory onsite Advisory Visit for International Candidacy and the onsite initial accreditation visit. [Note: Nursing education units seeking accreditation for a second nursing program have the option of declining the Advisory Visit for International Candidacy as a component of the candidacy process.]
• Program has financial resources adequate to meet all fiscal responsibilities related to the ACEN accreditation processes including International Candidacy Eligibility Application, Candidacy, and two onsite visits.

The nursing program must establish and provide documentation that it has obtained requisite governmental and regulatory approval to seek ACEN accreditation, if required.

International nursing programs must be strong candidates for success in achieving initial ACEN accreditation. Accreditation decisions for international nursing programs will be made by the ACEN Board of Commissioners based on recommendations of the peer evaluators who visit the program and the peer evaluators on the Evaluation Review Panel as well as the Board’s own review of program materials. The international nursing program’s participation in the Candidacy process and initial accreditation review do not guarantee initial accreditation will be granted by the ACEN Board of Commissioners.

An international nursing program seeking initial accreditation must apply for Candidacy.

Learn more about the eligibility and accreditation process for international programs in the Accreditation Manual Supplement for International Programs.

International Peer Evaluators

Peer evaluators are an essential component in the ACEN accreditation process. Peer evaluators make recommendations to the ACEN Board of Commissioners and are knowledgeable about common, contemporary, and best practices within the various nursing program types, appropriate curricula, and conventions and current trends in healthcare, nursing education, and/or nursing practice. The ACEN invites individuals from outside the United States that are interested in being an ACEN peer evaluator to apply to serve as an ACEN peer evaluator to international nursing programs.