In 2016, WFME published the first edition of WFME Global Standards for Quality Improvement: Master’s Degrees in Medical and Health Professions Education.
Defining the content, delivery and standards for medical education is a science, and in recent years there has been a growth in medical education research and the number of qualified medical educators. Between 2000 and 2015, the number of Master’s degrees in medical education grew from 7 to more than 100, but without any consistent measure of quality as there is through accreditation of basic medical education. The WFME responded to the call from the international community to define standards for the criteria and mechanisms for evaluation of these programmes. These standards are intended to:
- guide programme directors in their work of course design and management
- offer a framework for prospective and current students a framework for judging the quality and qualities of the provision they are contemplating or experiencing
- offer a framework for institutions and regulators in judging that provision, and
- offer a framework for local quality assurance and programme evaluation, and for external regulators and accreditors.
The standards mirror the framework of the trilogy of BME, PG and CPD standards which were revised in 2015, but there is no distinction between basic and quality development standards: all of the standards are the baseline for a Master’s programme. The nine key themes are: mission and outcomes; educational process; assessment of students’ students’ staffing educational resources, settings and scholarship; monitoring and evaluation; governance and administration; and programme renewal.
Intended audience: medical programme designers, current and prospective students, health authorities, medical associations, medical schools and regulatory/accrediting agencies.
