Chiropractic is an internationally recognized profession with a single high standard of education. In countries where there is registration of the profession, the titles chiropractor, chiropractic physcian or doctor of chiropractic all indicate that a person is the holder of a chiropractic degree from a professional degree-granting programme.  This course would be a minimum of 5 +1 years of university in the Oxford educational system, or 4 +1 years of graduate professional school, after university, in the North American system. 

Often, in unregulated jurisdictions, especially when traditional-practice bonesetting is translated into English, people who do not have Chiropractic training use the words chiropractor or chiropractic as a generic term describing the joint manipulation or even massage that they provide.  Because of this "training gap" the difference in the level of differential diagnostic ability between these groups can be substantial, and often, knowing when not to initiate a course of treatment is more important than knowing how to manipulate a joint, as well as selecting an appropriate type of manual care to suit the patients specific case.

The Chiropractic profession has its own independent body to certify training programmes as meeting the world standard, the Council of Chiropractic Education - International (CCE-I).
The chiropractic colleges in the list below meet the standards and are accredited by their regional affiliate of CCE-I.

Persons wishing to undertake chiropractic training should also be aware that in Asia there are unscrupulous entrepreneurs who run short, sub-standard, unaccredited courses for  a quick profit, that will leave them ill-prepared to provide safe care to the public.  It is important for prospective students to seek out CCE-I programmes.