Our Mission and Focus

Southwest Acupuncture College is a classical school of Oriental medicine offering an accredited professional degree program leading to a Master of Science in Oriental Medicine (M.S.O.M.). With the primary responsibility of educating students to become independent healthcare providers, our foremost goal is to provide excellence in the education of those prospective practitioners. A concomitant goal of the college, to cultivate leadership and service to the community in this emerging field of effective medical care, is fostered in the curriculum and the educational format as well as the life of the college community through our on-site low cost public clinic and numerous off campus extern clinics where we offer free services. In order to accomplish the goals of sustaining the highest quality of education, and promoting the greatest caliber and realization of professional performance, the staff and faculty are continually re-evaluating the program and supporting areas of institutional activity, seeking ways to enhance and maintain the college’s standard of excellence.

Since its inception in 1980, Southwest Acupuncture College has been dedicated to providing the highest quality of education possible and has remained in the forefront of education in the field of Oriental medicine. Its high passage rate on all state and national exams, high level of graduate satisfaction and success, and visionary educational paradigm, have promoted the reputation of the school as an “ivy league” college of Oriental medicine.

Our educational philosophy guides the program and makes us unique. This philosophy maintains that learning is best accomplished by doing. Therefore the preponderance of the curriculum is centered around a hands-on clinical approach where students locate points, practice techniques, develop diagnoses and treatment plans, prepare herbal formulas, and observe and treat patients. Through an active teaching clinic, Southwest Acupuncture College creates an integrative environment in which classroom learning can be practically applied in an actual healthcare setting. The curriculum is designed to couple knowledge with experience, reinforcing information learned in the classroom so that it becomes a working body of knowledge that is used and applied. The educational format strives to develop professionals capable of independent thinking, collaborative learning, analytical ability, self-evaluation, and self-education: skills that the students can cultivate and use throughout their professional lives. The number of students accepted into the program is limited to ensure optimal student-teacher ratios, as a step towards the personalized education needed to develop outstanding healthcare providers.