ANMAC is an external accreditation entity that exercises accreditation functions on behalf of the NMBA and in accordance with the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, as enforced in each state and territory. Please see About us for further details.

Accreditation standards are a mechanism for establishing the agreed level of quality or attainment required in professional education programs. Accreditation standards are used by ANMAC to assess whether programs and education providers meet the agreed standard for nursing and midwifery pre-registration and pre-endorsement programs of study. Assessing and accrediting professional education programs is part of a broader process of assuring the community, that having completed an accredited program, practitioners have achieved outcomes agreed to by the profession and are able to practise safe

ANMAC is responsible, under the National law, for maintaining the currency and integrity of accreditation standards for nursing and midwifery programs leading to registration and endorsement in Australia. ANMAC regularly reviews and improves accreditation standards used to assess programs, to ensure their continued effectiveness and relevance in contemporary education and health care environments.  

All accreditation standards published from 2019 will incorporate a new five standard structure as shown in Table 1.  

In collaboration with stakeholders, ANMAC has developed an Essential Evidence companion document to support the standards. The companion document is made accessible to education providers on our website with the new or revised Accreditation Standards. When applying for program accreditation, the Essential Evidence is the minimum evidence an education providers needs to submit to demonstrate their program meets the relevant accreditation standards.

In developing an accreditation standard for a health profession, the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 requires accreditation authorities to undertake wide-ranging consultation on the content of accreditation standards. Review of ANMAC Accreditation Standards is guided by a Professional Reference Group (PRG) selected for expertise in such areas as consumer advocacy; clinical practice, education and research; health service delivery and management; regulation and accreditation; professional and industrial matters and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

All accreditation standards developed by ANMAC are assessed by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR). The OBPR is a division within the Australian Government’s Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet but has independence from the Department in assessing and reporting on compliance with the best practice regulation requirements.

New Accreditation Standards are in effect from the date they are published on the ANMAC website. This is after the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia approval date.  

Programs that were accredited against a previous version of the Accreditation Standards will continue to be monitored and have changes assessed against that version of the standards.  Previous versions are described as Superseded Accreditation Standards.