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The Primary Focus of IMUNE is to:
- To provide a framework for education.
- To provide assessment methods to ensure robustness and uniformity of course offerings.
- To operate an assessment process leading to a visibly valid and credible qualification.
Qualifications
IMUNE is an accredited medical educational facility operating in compliance with international law. As such it is authorized to offer qualifications appropriate to the course content and student expertise including:
- Foundation certificates
- Certificates.
- Advanced Certificates
- Associate Diplomas
- Diplomas.
- Advanced Diplomas (degree Equivalent)
- International licenses.
- Higher degrees. (M Phil, PhD by research)
Whilst the primary purpose of IMUNE is to make available to all people interested in natural health learning process IMUNE also recognize the usefulness of qualifications that are recognized by other bodies.
Courses
IMUNE accredits & operates courses associated with natural medicine across the full educational spectrum. Courses are open to all. Students seeking qualifications can elect to take the associated examination to accrue credits towards their chosen qualification. Alternatively students can study for interest or for continuing professional development.
All IMUNE accredited courses are suitable for:
- Learning, interest or continuing professional development
- a study certificate is issued.
- Part of an IMUNE Qualification.
IMUNE will establish the syllabus for specific courses and review course applications for conformity with this. The IMUNE syllabus forms the basis for IMUNE examinations. IMUNE operates a continuous validation procedure for courses that have been reviewed as suitable for the IMUNE examinations. The steps will include:
IMUNE operates specific courses where:
- This is the most practical way of providing specialist education and information.
- An individual or organization does not have the technical resources to provide an online course. This will be more of a hosting service where IMUNE assists in the logistics.
The links below represents an overview of available learning: IMUNE welcomes collaboration to expand available courses.
Read more about IMUNE Qualifications & Courses
Qualifications Outline Requirements
IMUNE Qualifications&Courses.pdf
Quantum Biofeedback
Links to Quantum BiofeedbackScreen
Available Courses and Credits
Course Schedules.pdf
Higher Degrees by Research
Links to Research Faculty Screen
Qualifications and Relevance
The recognition of any qualification is integration between the integrity of the course and review by regulatory bodies in specific countries of use. Both the process and accreditation level varies between countries and IMUNE work in conjunction with country representatives (both within the academic advisory boards) to support the development of such approval.
Self Regulation
Self regulation is common: many professions (acupuncture, homeopathy) are not regulated by government. Some ‘self regulatory’ bodies are solid and professional – others issue paper which may lack substance.
In some countries self regulatory organizations of repute are the primary reference point and there may not be any statutory (government related) recognition process. An example within the UK is the Complementary Medicine Association which has substance and credibility by virtue of it’s widespread representation of individual practitioners and modality specific institutions. Within the UK there is statutory regulation of professions such as medicine and osteopathy by the government, but not of many others.
In the USA certain professions are licensed by state boards: this generally applies only in certain states and to certain professions. In other states the profession is deregulated meaning that there is no state board certification or licensure of practitioners. By way of example naturopaths are state board licensed in approximately 15 countries in the USA. In order to practice in these states and use the nomenclature of Licensed Naturopath application must be made to the state board for issuance of a license. In states that are de-regulated naturopaths may generally not use the terminology licensure but may practice as naturopaths. Due to low profile, low numbers and the cost of licensing many states within the USA have not established boards for licensure. The current situation is of self generated, generally commercially operating boards that issue certification. Whilst a stepping stone there is no governmental authorization or sanctioning of such boards and they can be construed as self regulating and certifying bodies. Within the USA in particular there appears to be a circular co-accreditation arrangement between a number of these natural health boards. These boards specifically are able to offer certification only and are not authorized to offer licenses. They are self auditing and thus the integrity and appropriateness of offerings are purely internally generated. There is no independent peer review system.
Read more about regulation in various countries
Universities
There are private and statutory universities. IMUNE is a privately established university structured consistent with statutory universities.
The highest accreditation of Universities is by governments. IMUNE is establishing operations to enable:
- Government audit of structure.
- Government audit of integrity of courses.
- Government audit in terms of consistency of operation with its charter.
- Government audit in terms of financial operation.
Essentially IMUNE operates in all respects consistent with internationally established criteria for universities.
This process is considerably beyond the self regulation that is operated by non-licensed or state regulated boards within the USA and whilst many European natural health associations and institutes are robust it exceeds this level of accreditation and robustness.
Specifically this enhances the credibility of the educational qualification with benefits of:
- Individual professional knowledge.
- Client base confidence.
- University accredited qualification.
- Facilitation of professional body recognition.
- Facilitation of professional insurance.
- Facilitation of health insurance company reimbursements.
Specifically in respect of the USA IMUNE is able to offer international licenses: licenses issued within the USA are restricted to those issued by state boards.
Future Natural Health Regulation
A major benefit of IMUNE qualification is in respect of future regulation of natural health professions. Currently worldwide the majority of natural health professions are not regulated by statutory (government) institutions. This is under specific review worldwide and particularly within Europe in 2005. Implicit in such forthcoming regulation is grandfathering (ex post facto) whereby a credible professional in a field operating for a substantive period of time prior to the introduction of regulation must be grandfathered in. There is a review process in this which examines the educational robustness of qualifications as well as their clinical operational history. IMUNE intends to ensure access to robust qualifications to ensure practitioners have the base for being grandfathered in.
Development of IMUNE Qualification Recognition
Working associations with experts in various countries are being employed to facilitate knowledge of local requirements to ensure wherever possible that IMUNE educational processes and qualifications fulfil these. Since many of these are country specific this is a developing and fluid process.
Accreditation & Affiliation
International Licenses
There are different requirements in terminology used in different countries. Licensing in the UK is not regulated by federal or state governments whereas in the USA a licensed health care practitioner is a physician or medical doctor able to use the terminology patients and diagnose amongst others. IMUNE will offer
IMUNE is legally authorized to offer international licenses: dependent upon the country of practice the word license may carry specific associations. The terminology international license has been deliberately chosen in order to avoid conflicts in this area whilst a test still attesting to the students level of expertise.
The legalities of International License have been explored specifically in relation to the USA and this supports its use. The full legal opinion is available below
International License in the USA
Int License USA Legal.pdf
Various considerations are also addressed in the FAQ’s.
Credit Transfer
IMUNE will review qualifications issued by other bodies for the issuance of credit against various IMUNE courses and qualifications. Please email admin@IMUNE.net for further information and application details.
Continuing Education (Continuing Professional Development)
A general requirement of diplomats and licensees is that they undertake continuing professional development as recognized in continuing education units or credits. IMUNE courses offer CEUs.
IMUNE course completion documents provide the opportunity to apply learning time to accrue CEUs , required in many professions and for International License renewal.
A particular feature of IMUNE modules is that they always provide fascinating learning!
More about Continuing Education/Professional Development Credits
Professional Body Recognition
IMUNE supports facilitating entry to or membership of professional bodies by providing information concerning academic qualifications from IMUNE.
Each professional body will have it’s own process and requirements for application which should be undertaken by the individual. IMUNE is pleased to support by the provision of standard information for such application processes.
Many professional bodies have established a credit transfer approach where a certain number of points are allocated to accredited courses which may in their own right fulfil or may partially contribute to the credits required for professional body membership.
Credentialing
Trainer accreditation is important (for both credibility and ratification of professional skills) for many individuals operating either independently or within a learning organization. Trainers will benefit from IMUNE facilitated trainer credentialing. IMUNE welcomes requests to accredit trainers offering courses in natural health education.
IMUNE also operates the qualification process for device technology trainers on behalf of manufacturers to ensure high quality device training.
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