On July 11-12, 2013 the third session of medical schools workshop jointly sponsored by the Department of Higher Education of Ministry of Education and the Working Committee for the Accreditation of Medical Education (WCAME) was held in the Jiaxing University in Zhejiang province. With the support and active participation of about 86 medical schools, more than 450 school leadership and teachers attended the workshop.
Hosted by Prof. Weimin Wang, Deputy Secretary-General of the WCAME, SongEn Cheng, principal of Jiaxing University, delivered welcoming remarks on behalf of the school. After the address of Director Qiming Wang, Director of Agricultural and Medical Education Division, Department of Higher Education of Ministry of Education, Prof. Boji Cheng, Prof. Weimin Wang, Prof. Shibin Zhao, Prof. Liyang Wen, Prof. Deliang Wen and Prof. Benyan Luo also reported on the accreditation of medical education from different perspectives.
After introducing the medical educational reform and according policies of the Ministry of Education, Director Wang stressed on the significance and requirement of accreditation of medical education. He pointed out that accreditation of medical education is not only an important way of external quality assurance, but also an inevitable requirement for the internationalization of medical education. More importantly, accreditation of medical education was also a good way to address the constant widening of college enrollment. He hoped that each school could take this opportunity to identify its strength and weakness, so as to ensure the quality of medical workforce.
Prof. Boji Cheng, Secretary-General of the WCAME introduced the purpose, meaning and guiding role of accreditation, and emphasized the necessity, importance and the value orientation of accreditation. He pointed out that accreditation of medical education is a good opportunity for all medical schools to promote educational reform and achieve continuous development. Prof. Weimin Wang elaborated the Standards for Basic Medical Education item by item combing with his accreditation practices. Prof. Shibin Zhao from Harbin Medical University introduced key points in preparing self-evaluation report. Prof. Liyang Wen shared his experience as accreditation assessors as well as his understanding of "self-directed learning", "curriculum integration" and "formative assessment", while Prof. Deliang Wen from China Medical University and Prof. Benyan Luo from Jiaxing University shared their experience in accreditation preparation and site visit, from the perspective of medical schools. In the morning of July 12, all the perspectives were divided into four groups to discuss with experienced accreditation assessors face to face.
The workshop concluded with a speech from Prof. Boji Cheng. He firstly extended his gratitude for Jiaxing University and all the Secretariat members for their support and contribution to this workshop; then encouraged all the medical schools to actively apply for accreditation so as to ensure the quality of medical talents.
