Accreditation of medical programs by the Australian Medical Council

The Australian Medical Council (AMC) develops standards for all phases of medical education and training. In its accreditation processes, it assesses education providers and their medical programs against these standards and monitors them to ensure they continue to meet the standards. AMC accreditation processes apply to:

  • Primary medical education programs provided by university medical schools.
  • The internship, the first year after medical school, which is a year of supervised work based training.
  • Specialist medical training and continuing professional development programs; the education providers for these programs are national specialist medical colleges.
  • Programs for endorsement of registration of medical practitioners for acupuncture.

AMC processes entail both accreditation (validating that standards are met) and peer review to promote high standards of medical education, stimulate self-analysis and assist the organisation under review to achieve its objectives. Accreditation is conducted in a collegiate manner involving consultation, advice, and feedback to the organisation under review.

Using a peer review process, AMC expert assessment teams assess medical training programs against the approved accreditation standards. The standards define the knowledge, skills and professional attributes expected at the end of basic medical training and specialist medical training, and good practice in the delivery of medical education and training. Education providers and medical programs that meet the standards are granted accreditation.

The AMC has developed a series of videos, including interviews with experienced AMC assessors and office bearers, that describe the different aspects of the accreditation cycle and process, and how accreditation contributes to improving the standard of medical education and training in Australia.

The Context of AMC Accreditation

The AMC Accreditation Process

The Role of the AMC Assessment Team

Developing a Purposeful Accreditation Submission

Decoding the Accreditation Visit

Constructing the Accreditation Report

The Governance of AMC Accreditation

The Purpose of AMC Accreditation

Evaluation of AMC processes and standards

The AMC regularly reviews its own accreditation and recognition processes, standards and criteria through:

  • feedback from AMC expert teams and institutions undergoing accreditation or recognition
  • reports by AMC team chairs
  • regularly reviewing government policy and health services developments which effect clinical training
  • periodically establishing working parties to review standards and procedures with extensive stakeholder consultation
  • networking with other regional, national, international medical education standard setting & accreditation agencies
  • regular review against national and international standards for good practice in accreditation.

For further enquiries about the accreditation process please contact us via our Contact Form.