The Medical School of the University of the West Indies on all four campuses has been certified as fully accredited. The accreditation exercise was completed in July 2006 and is the first full accreditation exercise for the Medical School since 1983. The Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions (CAAM-HP) has fully endorsed the medical programme of the University of the West Indies, following a year-long review process which ended in a site visit to the four campuses – Mona (Jamaica), Cave Hill (Barbados), St. Augustine (Trinidad) and Nassau (The Bahamas). In its report submitted to UWI Vice Chancellor, Prof. Nigel Harris, the Authority concluded that “the graduates of the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) course of the UWI achieve high international standards at the time of graduation.”

Overall, the UWI was commended for “its outstanding students and enthusiastic and committed teachers,” while different institutional strengths were identified across the four campuses. These include excellent relationships with government, hospital administration and private physicians (Nassau), favourable faculty to student ratios (Cave Hill), early clinical exposure (Mona) and the library facilities and excellent educational support services (St. Augustine).

The UWI medical programme is the first to be certified by the CAAM-HP, which was created by CARICOM in 2004, following the shift in policy with the consolidation of the European Union (EU) by the General Medical Council of Great Britain. In 2003, the General Medical Council of Great Britain stated that it would no longer be responsible for the accreditation of medical schools outside of Britain and the European Union. The CAAM-HP review is also the first formal accreditation visit to be conducted since 1983, which was the year in which the last General Medical Council assessment took place. The Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions gave its stamp of approval for the next four (4) years.

In keeping with its objectives to establish and maintain standards of excellence and secure international recognition for programmes of study in medicine and other health professions offered by institutions in CARICOM, the CAAM-HP assessed the UWI Faculty of Medicine based on information provided by the school before and during the accreditation survey. The survey team comprised a committee of international medical educators, led by Professor David Hawkins, Secretary, Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools.

Other members of the site visit team included Dr. Emmanuel Cummings, (Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences - University of Guyana), Professor Roger Green, (Professor of Medicine and Former Dean, University of Manchester, England), Dr. Patrick Rooney (Chair, Department of Clinical Skills, St. George’s University, Grenada) and Dr. Joanne Bates (Senior Associate Dean for Education, University of British Columbia).

Notwithstanding accreditation assessments, the University of the West Indies also reviews all departments, including the Medical School, every three (3) years. This is done by the University’s Quality Assurance Unit which assembles an international team to conduct a thorough quality assurance review. During this particular accreditation exercise by the CAAM-HP every possible aspect of the programme received critical attention – the institutional setting, quantity and quality of medical students, educational programme and evolving curricula, existing faculty, educational resources, and the internship initiative.

Based on the reported findings of the survey team, the CAAM-HP accredited the UWI medical programme at its July 7-8, 2006 meeting until 2010.