The Physiotherapy Board is responsible for prescribing the qualifications required for scopes of practice within the physiotherapy profession and, for that purpose, accrediting and monitoring degrees, courses of studies, or programmes and the educational institutions that provide them (s. 118(a) Health Practitioners Competence Assurance (HPCA) Act 2003).
All educational institutions and programmes accredited by the Board are assessed against the Accreditation Standard for Physiotherapy Practitioner Programmes (the Accreditation Standard).
The Accreditation Standard sets out the minimum requirements that must be met to deliver physiotherapy programmes that provide persons who complete those programmes with the knowledge, clinical skills, and professional attributes required for the practise of physiotherapy in Aotearoa | New Zealand.
Currently the Accreditation Standard is in transition from V1.0 August 2019 (currently effective) to V2.0 which was approved by the Board in September 2023 and will come into effect from January 1st, 2025. This transition period allows the education institutes one full academic year to enable the change requirements of V2.0
The Accreditation Standard covers the accreditation of the incumbent educational institutions and their respective degrees:
- Auckland University of Technology
- University of Auckland
- University of Otago
- Waikato Institute of Technology
There are annual reporting requirements for educational institutes between accreditation years. A new educational institution, a new physiotherapy programme or a major change in an existing programme all require Board accreditation.