Professor Ricardo León-Bórquez in his new role of the WFME President was given the honour to present as the keynote speaker at the Asian Accreditation Agencies Forum held on 11 and 12 January 2023 in Thailand. The Forum is a platform for accrediting agencies of the region to exchange experience and best practices. Presenters include the Institute for Medical Education Accreditation, Thailand, Japan Accreditation Council for Medical Education, Korean Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation, and Indonesian Accreditation Agency for Higher Education in Health (IAAHEH).

In his presentation, Prof. León recognised that the world, and educational philosophies, were rapidly changing from being unipolar (one country dominating) to multipolar (many countries having an equal voice), based on the premise that the globalisation often reinforced the dominance of the global north, the idea that the “metropolitan west is best”, and ideas of quality from global north despite most medical schools being located in the global south.

Simultaneously, while the emphasis was given to the positive shift from “globalisation” to “context and culture”, a new trend prevailed with “quality assurance” moving towards “quality improvement”.

In recognising that quality is contextual, WFME has changed its approach to WFME Standards, abandoning the more prescriptive for the principle-based.