The aim of the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) is to enhance the quality of medical education worldwide.
WFME works with doctors, educators and universities worldwide through its six member regional associations of medical education, which form the WFME Executive Council. WFME was established in 1972 by the World Medical Association (WMA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), which are the additional voting members on the WFME Executive Council, along with the International Federation of Medical Student Associations (IFMSA), Junior Doctors Network (JDN), the ECFMG®, a member of Intealth™ (ECFMG), and the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE).
WFME works to support healthcare for all through promoting high quality in medical education for the estimated current physician workforce of 9.8 million (WHO, 2015) and prospective students and trainees. There are more than 3,700 operational and historical listings in the World Directory of Medical Schools, and WFME is concerned that the quality of medical education and training provided therein should be to the highest standard. We have a duty to our physician workforce who invest their time, to the public institutions who fund or subsidise their training, and to the patients who medical graduates go on to treat, to ensure that the quality of medical education is of the highest quality.
Our current priorities include the promotion of accreditation through the WFME Recognition of Accreditation Programme, raising the standards for basic and postgraduate medical education and continuing professional development through the publication of expert consensus of minimum and quality standards, and maintaining the World Directory of Medical Schools.
WFME is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation, registered under English and Welsh law (number 08994665), and registered in France «Association Loi 1901» (SIRET N° 814 499 562 00019). It is the organisation in official relation with the World Health Organization (WHO) representing medical education, and the education and training of medical doctors worldwide.
What is medical education?
Medical education is an academic discipline in its own right. Medical education research is published in peer-reviewed journals as a source of sharing the evidence base for medical education interventions.
WFME promotes the highest standards in the management, organisation, support and delivery of medical education, but it is not primarily concerned with the detail of what is taught in medical education, or what educational methods and approaches are used.
