Why Professional Accreditation?
Accreditation of professional programs serves a purpose distinct from institutional accreditation: it ensures that graduates are prepared to practice safely and competently in fields that carry significant public health, safety, or welfare implications. While a liberal arts degree from an unaccredited institution primarily harms the graduate's own career prospects, an unaccredited medical program could produce physicians who harm patients; an unaccredited engineering program could produce engineers who design unsafe structures. Professional accreditation is the mechanism by which society ensures minimum competency standards are met before practitioners enter licensed practice.
Professional accreditation is almost always conducted by field-specific bodies with deep subject matter expertise — associations of practitioners, professional societies, or statutory bodies — rather than by general institutional accreditors. These bodies develop criteria reflecting the current state of professional practice, research, and ethics in their fields, and they update criteria as practice evolves. The result is a closer alignment between educational preparation and professional requirements than general accreditation can provide.
In many jurisdictions, professional accreditation is a prerequisite for licensure examination eligibility. A graduate of a non-accredited medical school typically cannot sit the USMLE; a graduate of a non-ABET-accredited engineering program typically cannot sit the FE exam in most US states; a graduate of a non-ABA-approved law school typically cannot sit the bar examination in most states. This direct linkage between accreditation and licensing makes professional accreditation effectively mandatory for students seeking to enter regulated professions.
Medical Programs
Medical education accreditation in the US and Canada is conducted by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) for MD-granting programs. The LCME is co-sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Medical Association (AMA), and it is recognized by the US Department of Education as the accreditor for MD programs. Programs in osteopathic medicine are accredited by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA).
LCME accreditation requires meeting 12 standards covering institutional setting, educational program, academic environments, students, and faculty. Site visit teams spend three to four days at medical schools, reviewing curricular documentation, student performance data, faculty qualifications, simulation facilities, and clinical training site arrangements. Programs that fail to meet standards may receive accreditation on probation with specific requirements for remediation.
Internationally, the World Directory of Medical Schools (maintained by the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research, FAIMER, and WHO) lists medical schools recognized by their national regulatory authorities. International Medical Graduates (IMGs) seeking to practice in the US must hold a degree from a school listed in the World Directory, among other requirements.
Legal Programs
In the United States, law school Accreditation is conducted by the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, recognized by the US Department of Education for this purpose. ABA approval of a law school is the standard gateway: graduates of ABA-approved law schools are eligible to sit the bar examination in all 50 US states, while graduates of non-ABA-approved schools are restricted — in some states they can sit only the California bar, in others they cannot sit any bar.
ABA accreditation standards cover curriculum (requiring 83 credit hours, including skills training and professional responsibility courses), faculty qualifications, bar passage rates, employment outcomes, library resources, and academic governance. The ABA has tightened standards in recent years, particularly around bar passage rates — schools must demonstrate that at least 75% of graduates sitting for the bar within two years of graduation pass, or face accreditation consequences.
Outside the US, legal qualification routes vary widely. In the UK, a law degree combined with the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) or barrister training route leads to qualification as a solicitor or barrister respectively; there is no equivalent to ABA accreditation as a prerequisite for the training routes. In civil law countries, legal education and bar entry processes differ fundamentally from the US/UK common law model.
Engineering Programs
Engineering ABET Accreditation has been discussed in detail in the ABET guide (see the guide in this series). Engineering education internationally is accredited by national bodies that participate in the Washington Accord for engineering degrees, the Seoul Accord for computing programs, and the Sydney Accord for engineering technology programs. These accords provide multilateral mutual recognition of accredited programs across member jurisdictions.
Professional engineering licensure — the Professional Engineer (PE) license in the US, the Chartered Engineer (CEng) designation in the UK, and equivalent credentials in other countries — typically requires both an accredited degree and a period of supervised professional experience followed by an examination. The linkage between accredited education and professional licensure creates a clear pipeline from accreditation standards to professional practice standards.
AACSB Accreditation and ABET Accreditation serve overlapping roles for business and technology schools respectively, and many engineering management and technology management programs seek both accreditations to serve graduates entering both technical practice and managerial roles.
Business Programs
Business program AACSB Accreditation is covered in detail elsewhere in this series. The key points for professional accreditation purposes: AACSB accreditation is recognized by major employers, MBA rankings, and professional organizations as the baseline quality standard for business education. It covers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs in business.
CPA (Certified Public Accountant) licensure in the US requires 150 credit hours of education including specific accounting and business content — but does not require attending an AACSB-accredited institution. Some state CPA boards have historically required AACSB accounting accreditation for programs whose credits count toward the 150-hour requirement, though this varies by state. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has provided guidance on program quality criteria without mandating a specific accreditor.
Specialized accreditation also exists for specific business programs: the Project Management Institute (PMI) accredits project management programs through the Global Accreditation Center (GAC), and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) accredits HR programs. These programmatic accreditations signal alignment between curriculum and current professional practice standards.
Other Fields
Many fields beyond the high-profile professions have their own programmatic accreditation systems. Nursing programs are accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) or the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE); nursing state licensing boards (which administer the NCLEX examinations) typically require graduation from an accredited program. Architecture programs are accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) in the US, and graduating from an NAAB-accredited program is a prerequisite for the Architect Registration Examination (ARE).
Social work programs are accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE); licensure as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) or similar credential requires a degree from a CSWE-accredited program. Pharmacy programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE); the NAPLEX licensing examination requires graduation from an ACPE-accredited Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program. Dental education is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), a recognized accreditor for both dental school programs and dental specialty programs.
International students in these fields face additional complexity: professional accreditation in the home country does not automatically confer recognition in the destination country. A nurse trained in the Philippines, a pharmacist trained in India, or an architect trained in Brazil must individually demonstrate that their educational preparation meets the standards of the jurisdiction in which they wish to practice — a process that varies in complexity and duration by profession and destination country.