ACCREDITATION
Accreditation is foundational to the mission of the College of Allied Health Sciences (CAHS), ensuring educational quality, institutional integrity, and confidence in the competence of program graduates. CAHS operates within a robust accreditation framework that includes institutional accreditation, programmatic accreditation, and the accreditation of its military academic partners.
Institutional accreditation confirms that CAHS meets rigorous standards of academic quality, governance, and student support, ensuring its degrees are widely respected across higher education and the military healthcare system. Programmatic accreditation complements this by validating that individual allied health programs meet professional standards for curricula, faculty, and outcomes, supporting credentialing, licensure, and the credibility of practitioners. Together, these processes drive continuous improvement, support credentialing and licensure pathways, and uphold the credibility of CAHS graduates. By aligning education with evolving industry standards, accreditation sustains trusted care for service members and their families while strengthening the readiness of the entire healthcare system.
Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) is a global institutional accreditor recognized by the United States Secretary of Education since 1952. As a member of the regulatory triad, MSCHE assures students and the public of the educational quality of more than 500 institutions of higher education. Its accreditation process promotes institutional accountability, self-appraisal, improvement, and innovation through peer review and the rigorous application of standards within the context of institutional mission.
Within CAHS, MSCHE recognizes the Medical Education and Training Campus (METC) at JBSA–Fort Sam Houston, TX as a Branch Campus of USU. Additional instructional locations and sites include: U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence (MEDCoE), U.S. Army Special Operations Center of Excellence (SOCoE), Naval Medical Forces Development Command (NMFDC) locations in Groton, CT; San Diego, CA; Yorktown, VA; and Pensacola, FL. Official details regarding USU’s accreditation status are available through the MSCHE at: https://www.msche.org/institution/0146/.
Council on Occupational Education (COE)
In addition to MSCHE institutional accreditation, CAHS academic partners are accredited by the Council on Occupational Education (COE). COE accreditation affirms that these military education and training institutions meet rigorous standards for occupational and technical instruction, ensuring high-quality, competency-based training aligned with workforce and industry expectations.
This dual-accreditation environment strengthens the CAHS academic enterprise by ensuring that military training partners operate under recognized quality frameworks. It also supports the seamless transcription of military coursework into collegiate credit, reinforces programmatic accreditation requirements, and enhances the credibility of credentialing and licensure pathways for service members.
Programmatic Accreditation, Occupation Certification, and Licensure
To ensure both academic integrity and technical training excellence, CAHS partnerships are built on a dual-layered accreditation framework. CAHS academic partners maintain program-specific technical accreditation to verify that military training meets nationally recognized professional standards, while USU CAHS provides the institutional accreditation required for degree conferral. Although each partner’s programs undergo rigorous programmatic review by their respective accreditors, the CAHS affiliation adds an additional layer of academic quality assurance.
Together, these accreditation roles validate curriculum quality, faculty qualifications, and student outcomes, enabling military training to be transcribed as high-quality collegiate credit and directly supporting occupation certification and licensure. This integrated approach ensures that service members are fully prepared to meet professional credentialing requirements and enter the military healthcare workforce as competent, certified healthcare professionals.
In alignment with this framework, the specific programs within the College maintain accreditation through the following nationally recognized bodies:
- Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE)
- Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC)
- Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP)
- National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS)
- Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE)
- American Society of Health System Pharmacists / Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ASHP/ACPE)
- Committee on Accreditation of Educational Programs for the Emergency Medical Services Professions (CoAEMSP)