2024 revised criteria for SBPs


At its December 3-4, 2024 meeting, the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) adopted a revised set of Accreditation Criteria for Standalone Baccalaureate Programs (SBPs). This revision was part of CEPH’s regularly scheduled cycle and reflects several years of Council and work group efforts, as well as a public comment period in summer/fall 2024. An overview of the changes made to the SBP criteria are available here.


Implementation for Standalone Baccalaureate Programs

Each accredited and applicant SBP will receive an individual letter via email in January 2025 that explains how the revised criteria will or will not impact their upcoming review activities. Units with a confirmed site visit date will not be required to switch to the new criteria set but may have the option to do so in some cases. Information by site visit year is available below:

  • Site visits in 2025: continue with current criteria
  • Site visits in 2026: choice to continue with current criteria or switch to new
  • Site visits in 2027 or later: use new criteria

Implementation for SPH & PHP that offer bachelor's degrees

  • Council will incorporate curricular requirements (SBP Criteria B1-B6) into SPH & PHP criteria set during next revision, currently scheduled for 2026. Implementation period after adoption of new criteria ensures that units with confirmed site visit dates do not have to switch criteria sets.
  • For SPH & PHP site visits in 2026 or later, units may choose to substitute SBP B1-B6 in place of current criteria D9-D12. Must be a wholesale substitution; partial substitution not possible.
  • Spring 2026 site visits are already scheduled and will receive individual correspondence offering the substitution choice.
  • All other units will have the chance to opt into the substitution when scheduling their site visits; no action required until then.

Implementation for unaccredited, non-applicant units

Any SBP that has an initial application submission (IAS) accepted will use these revised criteria for all further review activities. While we encourage you to use the updated IAS template to ensure that your program aligns with the revised criteria, the Council will accept an IAS that aligns with the previous (2018) criteria through January 31, 2025 to account for programs that have already developed a draft IAS.

Units that are currently in the process of preparing an IAS can email Kristen Varol at [email protected] for additional information.


Upcoming informational webinars

CEPH will host two webinars to provide an overview of the revised criteria and an opportunity to ask questions.

  1. For SBP units only: this webinar will include an overview of the full revised criteria
    Monday, February 10, 2025
    2:00-3:30PM ET
    Click here to register
  2. For all units: this webinar will include an overview of the revised curricular criteria
    Thursday, February 13, 2025
    2:00-3:00PM ET
    Click here to register


Important documents