Page 23 - COH Newsletter

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International Accreditation

B.Sc. in Public Health Program

Receives APHEA Accreditation

What is APHEA?
APHEA represents the five leading public health associations in the European Region. It is committed
to assuring and improving the quality of educational activities throughout the European Region and
globally. Accreditation supports the continued advancement of education and training of the public
health workforce throughout the world by providing an international and transparent quality recognition.

Site Visit and Accreditation
We are proud to announce that the B.Sc. in Public Health has been granted accreditation by the Board of
Directors of the Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation (APHEA). Dr. Julien Goodman, Director
of APHEA, announced this wonderful news on 30 July 2021.

The decision was made following a virtual site visit attended by the APHEA review team and ADU
representatives, led by Dr. Rania Al Dweik, Assistant Professor of Public Health. The virtual site visit is a
component of APHEA’s review and accreditation process and was conducted over four days in June 2021.
The evaluation team gave particular attention to the program’s Self-Evaluation Report (SER) using seven
quality criteria. The evaluation team members were Professor Colleen Fisher (Chair), Costas Christophi
(Associate Professor), Tom Kuiper (Policy Advisor), and Dr. Julien Goodman (APHEA Director).

The site visit started with a session with the University and College leadership team, which enabled the
Chancellor, Provost, and Dean to orient the APHEA team to the University, the College of Health Sciences,
and particularly to the Public Health program. It also provided the opportunity to highlight the program’s
strengths, challenges, and future plans. Furthermore, the visit included sessions with students, alumni,
and external stakeholders, discussing different components of the program and the readiness of the
graduates to enter the workforce. The team also met with academic staff involved in delivering the
curriculum, giving the faculty time to discuss teaching methods, strengths, issues, workload, faculty
development activities, and research. Likewise, the APHEA team met with career, admissions, and
education support staff and reviewed recruitment, admissions, progression, enrollment, and student
services, etc. Another session was conducted with ADU examiners and quality managers to discuss
accreditation and quality improvement programs, as well as ethical research. In addition, APHEA met
with the ADU International Office and welfare members to talk about global student engagement and
international student recruitment and mobility.

Abu Dhabi University | The College of Health Sciences E-Magazine | Issue 1 2021-2022 Academic Year