According to the decree №1465694, November 16, 2022, issued by the Director of the National Centre of Education Quality Enhancement, the updated Subject Benchmark in Medicine (Higher Educational Standard) has been approved which was elaborated by the Healthcare Sectoral Council. 

Representatives of the higher educational institutions in Georgia conducting MD undergraduate programs as well as the representatives of the national regulatory bodies participated in the work of the Sectoral Council. 

An updated Subject Benchmark Statement shall enter into force immediately upon approval, except for those entries for which are provided  different effective dates by the document. 

On the basis of the renewed Subject Benchmark Statement, within 6 months after the approval of the document, Higher Educational Institutions must ensure the submission of an action plan to the National Center of Education Quality Enhancement, in which they describe how they intend to bring their educational programs into compliance with the updated Subject Benchmark Statement of Medicine. 

The renewed Higher Education Standard of medicine is based on two documents: Global Standards of Basic/Undergraduate Medical Education (2020) and Distance and Distributed Learning Standards of Medical Education (2021),) elaborated by the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME). Also, during the work on the document thematic analysis regarding the medical educational programs operating in the country carried out by the centre in 2021, has been considered. 

The changes reflected in the renewed Subject Benchmark Statement of medicine mainly refer to the following issues: Preconditions for enrolling students in a foreign language educational program; Teaching the Georgian language in the foreign language educational program; Additional qualification requirements have been established for the human resources involved in the delivering foreign language educational program; Competencies of MD graduates, learning outcomes of the educational program, teaching-learning and assessment methods have been clarified. Additional requirements regarding material resources, as well as clinical training have been defined. 

In addition, we would like to inform you that the National Center of Education Quality Enhancement in order to discuss the renewed subject benchmark statement of medicine, in the near future, will hold a working meeting with higher educational institutions about which you will be informed in advance. 

You can see the document of the updated subject benchmark Statement of Medicine at the following link.