05/07/2026
A Necessary Clarification: Education, Standards, and Professional Accountability
As the landscape for Ayurveda in British Columbia evolves, it is essential to clarify the specific roles of education and professional standards.
The Ayurveda College of British Columbia does not grant government licensure, does not regulate the profession, and does not guarantee future statutory recognition.
These facts have been stated explicitly and repeatedly. Any suggestion to the contrary is inaccurate.
The current discourse reveals a deeper issue. The absence of licensure is being used to argue that training depth, verifiable hours, and competency benchmarks are irrelevant or even misleading.
This position is not neutral — it actively undermines the development of Ayurveda as a credible profession.
Education, Standards, and Regulation serve three distinct functions:
• Education delivers structured, competency-based training with measurable outcomes.
• Standards and registration define professional benchmarks and titles.
• Regulation is the exclusive domain of provincial government.
These roles cannot be collapsed. To criticize an educational institution for not being a regulator is to misunderstand how professions develop.
Why Standards Matter Now
In a pre-regulatory environment, clear standards are not optional — they are the only protection available to the public.
When there is no regulation, transparency about training hours and competencies becomes even more critical.
Suggesting that all programs are essentially equal simply because none are licensed removes any meaningful distinction between serious training and minimal instruction.
The phrase “regulatory ready” describes programs built with defined competencies, verifiable hours, and curriculum structure that a future regulator could actually assess.
Dismissing the importance of training depth does not protect students — it discourages real competence.
The Underlying Motivation
A consistent resistance to clearly defined, verifiable standards has emerged from those whose own qualifications and business models would not meet the established benchmarks required for professional practice.
When individuals who would not themselves qualify under proper professional standards actively oppose transparency in training hours and competency requirements, it reveals whose interests are truly being protected.
Our Position
We stand with the detailed framework published by the Ayurveda Association of British Columbia.
That position paper outlines the provincial pathway to regulation, defines clear professional tiers, and establishes realistic competency-based standards.
We encourage all serious practitioners and students to read it: https://ayurvedaassociationbc.ca/position-paper.html
We will continue to deliver structured, transparent education because the public deserves clarity and the profession deserves integrity.
We do not participate in lowering standards to accommodate ambiguity.
Titles should reflect verifiable education.
Competency should be demonstrable, not assumed.
That is the direction we support.
