Flinders University’s internationally renowned School of Medicine has received the highest endorsement from the national accreditation body for medical education programs.

The Australian Medical Council (AMC) has granted the University’s medical program a maximum reaccreditation of six years, with the opportunity for this to be extended for a further four years.

Flinders University’s Dean of Medicine, Professor Paul Worley, said this achievement recognised the quality environment established by the Flinders School of Medicine in South Australia and the Northern Territory in producing a “workforce of the future” for health professions.

“This is the maximum length of reaccreditation in Australia and is not often granted by the AMC,” Professor Worley said.

This is the second consecutive maximum reaccreditation granted to Flinders University School of Medicine, which was established in 1975.

Professor Worley said the accreditation ensured Flinders domestic students were accredited for the purposes of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, and that international medical students at Flinders would continue to have reciprocal recognition by their respective medical councils.

He said the accreditation of the medical program until March 2021 followed a number of innovative initiatives that put the School at the forefront of medical education. Among these were:

• The launch of the Northern Territory Medical Program in 2011, which allowed students living in the NT – in particular indigenous students – the opportunity to undertake a medical degree in the Territory
• The graduation of Australia’s first Doctor of Medicine (MD) medical degree recipients in 2013, replacing the former Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery
• The implementation of Advanced Studies in the Flinders MD program – a research and scholarship stream integrated across all years of the medical degree
• Expansion of the Flinders University Rural Clinical School in South Australia
• Commencement of the Onkaparinga Clinical Education Program, a community-based teaching program in the southern suburbs of Adelaide
• The establishment of the internationally-renowned Flinders University Prideaux Centre for Research in Health Professions Education which is responsible for transforming assessment processes for future medical courses at Flinders and around the world.

“The Flinders School of Medicine is continuing to be at the cutting edge of medical education both Australia-wide and internationally,” Professor Worley said.

“We’re extremely proud that the Flinders medical course curriculum is licensed to be taught in an additional six medical schools around the world.”