Reflections on the Academic Accreditation of the MD Programme of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences , Sultan Qaboos University , Oman

Abstract

In November 2013, The College of Medicine and Health Sciences (COMHS) at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) was “fully accredited” for a ten-year period (on its first attempt) by the Association for Medical Education in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (AMEEMR) in association with and in accordance with the standards of the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME).The accreditation decision was made on the basis that the MD Programme complies with the WFME’s “Basic and Quality Development Standards”.1 It is notable that COMHS’ “Quality Development Standards” are considered by the WFME as “Best Practice” thus conferring distinguished status on the COMHS’ MD Programme. This article describes the actions taken by the COMHS which led to this success. The achievement of accreditation was neither a sudden nor an unsystematic accomplishment. It was the result of a lengthy and extensive process of continuous improvement of the COMHS’ abilities and capacities that started long before the accreditation endeavour per se began in 2008. The process began by the construction of the “new” curriculum—an exercise that was accompanied and followed by other complementary measures. Only after that was the accreditation process initiated. Before explaining the process in more detail, a description of SQU and the COMHS might be helpful.