Role of Suez Canal University, Faculty of Medicine in Egyptian Medical Education Reform

Abstract

There are currently 22 public and 2 private medical schools in Egypt, which graduate around 10,000 physicians annually. While Kasr Al-Eini (Cairo University) is the oldest one; established in 1827, the Suez Canal Faculty of Medicine (FOM/SCU) is the first to adopt an integrated, student centered, problem- and community-based curriculum since its inauguration in 1978. Apart from Port Said medical school, which was established in 2013, the remaining medical schools either generally adopt the conventional teacher-centered and subject-based curricula or starting to introduce changes in their curricula in order to fulfill the National Academic Reference Standards (NARS), published in 2008 by the National Authority of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Education (NAQAAE). This authority was established in 2006 as part of the reform agenda of the education system in Egypt. All institutes are mandated to comply with the set national standards and apply to NAQAAE for national accreditation. FOM/SCU was the first higher education institute in Egypt to obtain national accreditation in 15 May 2010 and also the first to be re-accredited in August 2015. The principal reason for this achievement is the implementation of innovative strategies by FOM/SCU that perfectly match the NARS, which were issued 30 years after the inception of FOM/SCU. Many traditional schools are now trying to implement some of these strategies, and these trials are applied either as separate parallel innovative programs (Mansoura, Ain Shams, and Menoufia), integrated modules (Zagazig, Armed Forces College of Medicine), or new curriculum (Alexandria). FOM/SCU, through its WHO collaborating center in the field of medical education and its department of medical education, offers help to all schools in Egypt in this regard. In parallel, FOM/SCU members have also offered training and consultations to numerous medical schools in other countries, including Syria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia.