The Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) Recognition Programme delivers an independent, transparent and rigorous method of ensuring that accreditation of PGME programmes – or the institutions delivering them – is of high quality.

WFME evaluates accrediting agencies’ compliance with pre-defined criteria. The PGME Recognition Criteria are measures of quality by which WFME determines whether to award PGME Recognition Status.

WFME does not recognise or accredit individual institutions or PGME programmes.

PGME is the phase of planned preparation for specialisation that occurs between graduation from medical school and postgraduate or specialist/sub-specialist licensure, certification, or registration. Approaches to PGME and its regulation vary widely worldwide. Formal PGME, as defined here, is not required in some countries, or may only be required for certain career tracks. Countries may have formal PGME but may lack an agency (an organisation or a department) which provides external evaluation and accreditation of PGME. Countries with PGME accreditation systems may have one agency that accredits all PGME, or many agencies each focusing on a specific specialty, group of specialties, or stage of PGME. Agencies may accredit PGME programmes, or institutions that deliver one or dozens of programmes. Even the definition of a PGME programme differs worldwide.

While accreditation plays an important role in improving medical education quality, its mere existence does not guarantee effectiveness of the process or consistency of decisions. The WFME recognition process involves a rigorous external evaluation of an accreditation agency’s legal standing, governance, accreditation and decision-making processes, and post-accreditation monitoring against the Recognition Criteria requirements. Achieving WFME Recognition Status is a significant indicator to key stakeholders – including national authorities, regulators, credentialing or certifying bodies, employers and, most importantly, doctors and their patients – of the quality of PGME accredited by the agency.

PGME recognition also has a valuable role in sharing good practice and facilitating continuous quality improvement. In addition to engaging in self-evaluation against the Recognition Criteria and raising the quality of accreditation in response to any conditions, agencies receive formative feedback from the expert Recognition Team. This does not impact the agency’s Recognition Status but provides suggestions for improvements above and beyond the criteria requirements. The recognition process also offers opportunities for agencies to learn from peers across diverse contexts and explore new approaches. Both participating agencies and Recognition Team members highly value these exchanges.