History of the medical education accreditation system in Korea: implementation and activities in the early stages

Following the opening of 12 new medical schools in Korea in the 1980s, standardization and accreditation of medical schools came to the forefront in the early 1990s. To address the medical community’s concerns about the quality of medical education, the Korean Council for University Education and Ministry of Education conducted a compulsory medical school evaluation in 1996 to see whether medical schools were meeting academic standards or not. This evaluation was, however, a norm-referenced assessment, rather than a criterion-referenced assessment. As a result, the Accreditation Board for Medical Education in Korea (ABMEK) was founded in 1998 as a voluntary organization by the medical community. With full support of the Korean medical community, ABMEK completed its 1st cycle of evaluations of all 41 medical schools from 2000 to 2004. In 2004, ABMEK changed its name to the Korean Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation (KIMEE) as a corporate body. After that, the Korean government paid closer attention to its voluntary accreditation activities. In 2014, the Ministry of Education officially recognized the KIMEE as the 1st professional institute for higher education evaluation and accreditation. The most important lesson learned from ABMEK/KIMEE is the importance of collaboration among all medical education-related organizations, including the Korean Medical Association.