Caribbean medical schools began emerging over fifty years ago. They have persisted and their number has grown, as has the debate over their efficacy and reputations. A quick search of Caribbean medical schools will yield many stories from students as well as very different perspectives from others interested and impacted by the schools.
Perhaps at the crux of the confusion of the off-shore medical schools is the topic of accreditation versus recognition: two meaningful terms in the realm of foreign credentials. How do these apply to the more than 50+ “state-less” medical schools in the Caribbean?
The Research
AACRAO’s International Education Standards Council (IESC) fellows Rosalie Hancock and Loida González Utley authored “Off-shore Medical Schools in the Caribbean''. They will share how they approached and untangled the complicated state of accreditation and recognition of Caribbean off-shore medical schools. In reviewing the ‘accreditation’ and other agencies that grant recognition to off-shore medical schools, you will see which do and do not follow the educational system of their host countries.
With the loose or lack of governmental oversight, and often limited to no resources to officially accredit medical schools in their territories, the job of U.S. institutions in evaluating these academic records becomes very confusing. While country-independent accrediting agencies such as ACCM and CAAM-HP review and accredit medical schools throughout the Caribbean there are also other types of agencies that may publish some form of recommendation or acceptance as well. So what role do U.S. state medical boards, the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), the World Health Organization play in this arena?
Attend the Webinar
Join us as we learn from the authors, and their project monitors about how they researched and cataloged this information to assist in understanding this complicated topic and get an inside view of the upcoming AACRAO Publication ‘Off-Shore Medical Schools in the Caribbean, by Rosalie Hancock and Loida Gonzalez Utley.
Attend the Off-shore Caribbean Medical Schools Webinar for an in-depth discussion with project authors and contributors.