Thanks to WFME Recognition of NVAO, doctors will retain access to the US after 202315/11/2018
The Accreditation Organisation of The Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) has been awarded the WFME Recognition Status as the first quality assurance organisation in the European Union.
Effective in 2023, eligibility for USMLE and employment as a doctor in the United States will be restricted to graduates from medical schools/programmes accredited by an agency which is recognised by the WFME Recognition Programme or to an equivalent standard. NVAO is the first quality assurance organisation in the European Union to receive this recognition.
In the first half of 2017, NVAO decided, after consultation with the Flemish and Dutch universities, to apply for the WFME recognition. A panel of international experts from Australia, South Africa and the US assessed the accreditation procedures of the NVAO. As an observer, the WFME panel followed the assessments of the Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes in Medicine at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and attended various NVAO board meetings on accreditation decisions relating to medical programmes.
The WFME is satisfied that the accreditation process, post-accreditation monitoring and decision making by NVAO when it accredits these medical schools and faculties is to an appropriate and rigorous standard. Therefore, NVAO has been awarded the WFME Recognition Status for ten years with immediate effect.
Next to a global mark of recognition, one of the benefits of of the WFME Recognition Status is the ECFMG eligibility for medical graduates. Effective in 2023, eligibility for USMLE and employment as a doctor in the United States will be restricted to graduates from medical schools/programmes accredited by an agency which is recognised by the WFME Recognition Programme or to an equivalent standard. NVAO is the first quality assurance organisation in the European Union to receive this recognition.
Paul Zevenbergen, Board Member NVAO: "With this recognition we make a difference for many doctors who want to specialise or work in the United States in the coming years. Being the first quality assurance agency in the European Union to receive this recognition gives us confidence in the quality of our procedures, also in an international perspective. This is a good example of the added value of well-functioning accreditation."
WFME Recognition Programme
The WFME Recognition Programme aims to raise the standards of medical education worldwide, through ensuring that national and regional accrediting agencies are acting in an appropriate, robust and transparent way. The intention is for all eligible accrediting agencies to be evaluated by WFME or to an equivalent standard.