What is ACPHA? - Best Hospitality Degrees

If you’re interested in studying for a degree in the hospitality industry, you might want to learn more about ACPHA, the acronym for the Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration.

ACPHA is an organization that evaluates and offers accreditation to hospitality management programs at both the associate’s (two year) and bachelor’s (four year) degree levels.

Begun in 1989, the original ACPHA only accredited programs at the bachelor’s level, but in 2008, they merged with another accrediting body that worked with associate’s level degree programs, and they now work with both.

Who Can Be Accredited

Only educational programs that meet the high standards of ACPHA gain accreditation. Their evaluation process is rigorous and includes both self-evaluation by the program under consideration as well as an evaluation done by colleagues in the industry, with the results looked at and the final decision made by the twelve-member commission.

Programs that offer hospitality administration degrees and are seeking accreditation are given self-study guidelines to help them analyze positives, negatives, and places where they need improvement. Once they have done the self-study, they get visited by an ACPHA team that does further evaluation. The team then provides a report which the program under consideration gets to respond to before a decision regarding accreditation is made.

Once accreditation has been granted, it usually stays in place for seven years before the program goes through the process again in order to retain accreditation.

High Standards that Lead to Excellence

The rigorous process ensures that hospitality administration programs offering degrees are offering strong educational opportunities that promote excellence across the hospitality industry. If you are interested in learning more about the objectives that the commission has set, you can visit their website and read them. These objectives have been agreed upon by the various commission members who come from a range of hospitality administrative backgrounds. Some of them are managers or directors in lodgings or restaurants, while others have worked as teachers in the industry.

While at their website, you can also find a list of the schools they have accredited, which currently numbers over sixty degree granting programs at universities, colleges, community colleges, and technical colleges. These programs can be respected for the recognition they have received from the Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration. They have generally sought accreditation from ACPHA to ensure that they are complying with national standards and to provide their students with classes and teachers who will give them the quality preparation they need to succeed as hospitality managers.

If you’re seeking to train as a hospitality manager, the list of ACPHA accredited programs might be a good place to start as you explore schools. A degree from an accredited program will likely help to open career doors. Studying in such a program will not only ensure that your education is up to date with standards and industrial trends, but it may also offer you more opportunities such as internships while you work on your degree. If you choose a school that has been recognized by the Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration, you can feel reasonably sure that it’s a school you can respect.