IMEAc Notification
Policy on Accreditation Process Consultation

To support medical education institutes to prepare for accreditation the IMEAc plays the role of providing consultation and/or training about “Criteria” and “Self-assessment Report”.

IMEAc is prudent to avoid any conflict of interest that may arise in relation to accreditation. Unless authorized by IMEAc, it is stipulated that all the Executive Board members cannot serve as an official consultant for any medical education institute, or act as a paid or unpaid consultant on IMEAc accreditation matters, not only during their service with IMEAc, but also for the period of three (3) years after completion of their IMEAc term, to any medical education institute subject to IMEAc accreditation. Accordingly, the Executive Board holds its full authority to select an IMEAc consultant/speaker for medical education institutes.

To avoid any conflict of interest, the IMEAc has set the following guidelines:

  1. Lecture to any one (or more) medical education institute(s): The lecturer will remain eligible to be assessor, ad-hoc committee and Executive Board member.Fee: Lecture to any one or more medical education institute(s)Half-day lecture (3 hours) – 20,000 baht
  2. Consultation to any medical education institute regarding medical education accreditation matters of IMEAc:The IMEAc will select an appropriate consultant for the requested institute. The person cannot be the one who serves on the Executive Board and/or ad-hoc committee. Neither can the consultant be assessor for that particular medical education institute nor can be appointed to be Executive Board of IMEAc for at least three (3) years after ending the consultation term.Fee: Consultation to any medical education institute regarding medical education accreditation matters of IMEAc.30,000 baht per day
  3. Workshop or Training for medical education institutes:Two types of training are provided.3.1 Regular training. IMEAc will organize regular training courses periodically with announcements made to the community. The registration fee will be applied for each participant.3.2 Training on request. The IMEAc will provide courses as requested. The speakers for these workshops/training courses are not eligible to serve in the following capacities, namely, assessors, members of the ad-hoc committee to evaluate these medical education institutes, and individuals involved in the decision of accreditation of those medical education institutes.

    To ensure effectiveness, IMEAc suggests that the participants for each course should not exceed 30.

    Fee: Training course for medical education institutes.
    – One-day training (6 hours) – 30,000 baht
    – Two-day training – 55,000 baht
    – Three-day training – 80,000 baht

    Other related expenses incurred from all requested services (lecture, consultation, training course) shall be the host institutes’ responsibility, including travels and accommodation of the consultant(s)/speaker(s).

    Disclaimer: The advice given by the consultant(s) to the medical education institutes is solely that of individuals. Thus, IMEAc is not to be held responsible.

Appeal

The medical school seeking for accreditation can appeal the decision of the Executive Board. The appeal can be sent to the President of Executive Board in writing. An appeal process for adverse actions is in place. The Executive Board has appointed an appeal committee to handle the cases. The appeal committee investigates the appealed issue. Interview of related persons may be needed. The solution will be submitted to Executive Board for endorsement and necessary actions, including informing the appellant.

Complaints

IMEAc has the process of receiving and investigating complaints from students, graduates or other individuals regarding accredited medical schools.

The procedures are as follows:

  1. IMEAc receives complaints in writing through the following channels: registered surface mails, emails or website imeac.org
  2. IMEAc will acknowledge the receipts of all the complaints.
  3. In case the issues are not relevant to the medical education standards, IMEAc will inform the complaint sender(s) and the particular medical school accordingly within 3 working days.
  4. If the complaints regarding misconduct or quality of the medical schools, IMEAc will appoint an investigation committee to probe the issues.
  5. The result of investigation committee will be submitted to the Executive Board for consideration.
  6. The decision of the Executive Board will be sent to the respective medical school, authorized organization and the complaint sender.
  7. The overall process will be completed in four months.

Impact of complaint(s) on the medical school(s)

Only the complaints that have been through the investigation committee(s) will be used in evaluation. The actions depend on the Executive Board’s final decisions which are:

  1. For the dismissal of the complaints, IMEAc will inform the complaint sender and the respective medical school.
  2. For minor impact, the particular medical school will receive a warning letter for it to take actions and report the solution within the appropriate period.
  3. For moderate impact, the medical school program will be suspended for a period that the Executive Board deems appropriate until the case is resolved, not exceeding the period of one (1) year.
  4. For high impact, the accreditation status is withdrawn.

Revised on 23 May 2020

Click here to download IMEAc policy