Quality managers' and academic faculty's perspectives on the effectiveness and challenges of the quality assurance and accreditation processes

Abstract

Objective: To assess the implementation of quality assurance and accreditation processes in undergraduate medical training programmes, and to identify the challenges in this regard.

Method: The qualitative study was conducted from September to November 2023 at the College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and comprised administrative officials and academic faculty involved in the National Centre for Academic Accreditation and Assessment accreditation process between 2016 and 2021. Data was collected using face-to-face interview with each participant. Data was analysed thematically.

Results: Of the 8 subjects, 3(37.5%) were administrative officials and 5(62.5%) were faculty members. The three themes identified related to the quality assurance process were: Enhances programme’s efficiency; increases awareness regarding quality and accreditation processes, and the challenges in the way of implementing the process.

Conclusion: There were several advantages identified regarding the quality assurance and accreditation processes, but there were still challenges in this regard.

Key Words: Accreditation, Foreign medical graduate, Process assessments, Quality improvements, Undergraduate medical education.