Chiropractic's educational expansion in the last three decades of the 20th century paved the way for the formation of an international body to aid, guide and encourage regional accrediting agencies to establish high standards and equitable processes for the growing global chiropractic educational community.
The Councils on Chiropractic Education International (CCEI) is not empowered to grant accreditation to educational programs and institutions. Regional accreditation agencies in Australasia, Canada, Europe and the US hold this authority. However, to: 1) bring consistency in standards across geopolitical boundaries, 2) create similar procedures in the accreditation processes across a wide variety of educational systems and regulations and 3) open doors for inter-jurisdictional mobility and licensure/registration; the regional agencies agreed to the formation of CCEI to address these issues.
While the concept was ideal, the machinations of creating an international body; setting mission, goals, policies, and procedures, and understanding differences across international educational systems and regulation governing the education and recognition of chiropractic practitioners was fraught with challenges. This paper chronicles the events, participants, challenges and outcomes over the first decade of CCEI's existence (2001-2011) with some brief commentary on the preceding milieu.
Documentation of the good progress achieved, some challenges remain and new ones have arisen giving cause for the continuation of effort for another decade. Ultimately, globally accepted standards and procedures established and confirmed by qualified accreditation bodies should assure competent, safe practitioners - the ideal goal.
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