The World Federation for Medical Education authorises ANECA as accreditor of the WFME International Quality Label for Medicine

On 11 October 2022 ANECA received the certificate of accreditation from the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) as accreditor of the WFME International Quality Label in Medicine.

The Agency began the process of this authorisation in 2020 to meet the request for the WFME label made by numerous Spanish universities and the National Conference of Deans of Medicine, aware that from 2024 onwards only people who have graduated with a training programme that has been accredited by an agency recognised by the WFME will be able to practise medicine in the United States and Canada.

The steps taken to obtain authorisation were as follows: 

1. Completion and submission of a self-assessment report and evidence justifying ANECA's compliance with the criteria established by WFME to be an agency authorised to award its label.
2. Reception of the visit of WFME experts (Dr Lois Nora, Dr Farida Nurmanbetova, Dr Mitri Amini and Dr Salma Soussi) in the week of 25 April 2022 to ANECA premises. During this visit, the WFME representatives met with Mercedes Siles Molina, Director of ANECA, Alfonso Vallés Sales, Head of ANECA's Teaching and Institutions Evaluation Team, and Anabel Bonilla Calero, Head of the International Quality Labels Programme (IQLs). WFME experts also participated as observers in the interviews carried out by two ANECA visiting panels with the management team, teaching staff, students, graduates and employers of the faculties of medicine in which the Agency was carrying out the evaluation of this new international label during those days.
3. Accompaniment of ANECA by Anabel Bonilla, as well as Juana Sendra and Javier Rainer, assessors of the visiting panels of this programme, to the experts of WFME to the facilities of the universities that, for the first time, were assessed to obtain this label.

In alphabetical order, these are the three universities that have been evaluated by ANECA: University of Castilla-La Mancha, Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Navarra. 

During this process of authorisation of ANECA by WFME, the Agency generated the documentation that the evaluated universities had to evaluate during the pilot project, which started at the end of 2021 and ended in June 2022, and which is published on ANECA's website.

The design of this documentation was supported by a Technical Commission composed of:

• Jordi Palés Argullós
• Cristina María Beltrán Aroca
• Luis Bujanda Fernández de Piérola
• Isabel Betlloch Mas
• José Martín Carreira Villamor
• Javier García Alegría
• Jose Ángel Hernández Rivas
• Irene Durante Montiel (México)
• Juan Hérnandez Hernández (México)
• Anabel Bonilla Calero

The evaluation model of this new label is based on the application of the WFME criteria, and incorporates ANECA's experience in the evaluation of the other labels awarded by ANECA. ANECA's International Quality Labels are periodically audited by the international associations European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) , European Network for Accreditation of Engineering Education (ENAEE) , European Quality Assurance Network for Informatics Education (EQANIE) and European Chemistry Thematic Network Association (ECTN) , and internally through an annual meta-evaluation.

ANECA's comprehensive quality recognitions, including these labels, are part of the EQuAM programme of comprehensive institutional accreditation. A quality model in which the centrepiece is the internal quality assurance of the institution.

In the context of the development of this new international and professional project, ANECA signed a collaboration agreement with the National Conference of Deans of Faculties of Medicine (CNDFME) and the General Council of Official Medical Colleges (CGCOM).

The medical schools of the above institutions were evaluated during the ANECA accreditation process by WFME in two phases: evaluation by the visiting panel and resolution by the accreditation committee. The visiting and commissioning panels were composed of medical experts with international experience. 

Visiting panel that evaluated the University of Navarra:

• Isabel Betlloch Mas (chairperson)
• David Martínez Hernández (academic member)
• José Ángel Hernández Rivas (professional member)
• Manuel Eros Rodríguez Fuentes (student member)
• Juana Sendra Pons (secretary)
• Begoña Sánchez Gómez (secretary)

Visiting panel that evaluated the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Castilla-La Mancha:

• Cristina María Beltrán Aroca (chairperson)
• Mateo Ruiz Conca (academic member)
• Javier Garcia Alegría (professional member)
• Macarena Perán Quesada (student member)
• Javier Rainer Granados (secretary)
• Sandra Martín García (secretary)

Accreditation Commission that evaluated the three universities that have participated in the pilot project of this label:

• José Martín Carreira Villamor (chairperson)
• Diego Pablo Ruiz Padillo (secretary)
• M. Julia Buján Varela (academic member)
• Milagros García Barbero (academic member)
• Inmaculada Mercedes Alfageme Michavila (academic member)
• Joaquín García-Estañ López (professional member)
• Carlos Navarro Cuellar (professional member)
• Eduardo García-Toledano (professional member)
• Larisa Ivón Carrera (international member-Argentina)
• Juan Hernández Hernández (international member-México)

These three universities have successfully passed the evaluation process and are awarded this label until 15/06/2030. 
Excellence in Higher Education is related to the public and private consideration of training people to the highest level, a duality increasingly influenced by the internationalisation of Higher Education itself. Hence the importance of international accreditation in a context of open dialogue on the benefits and opportunities for those involved, with close collaboration between authorities, institutions and agencies at local, national and global levels. 
This new ANECA project will incorporate effective changes to meet the new challenges for health in the times in which we live, as well as sharing resources and experiences, including the benefits of international accreditation. See the testimonials sent to ANECA by more than 30 universities after obtaining ANECA quality labels:  /web/guest/sellos-profesionales .