Parliamentary Secretary in the Education Ministry, Senator Harry Husbands, addressing over 50 delegates who attended the recent opening ceremony of CAAM-HP’s three-day Capacity Building Workshop at Courtyard by Marriotts. (A.Miller/BGIS)
Government expects that local and foreign tertiary educational providers, offering medicine and other health-related programmes of study in Barbados, will demonstrate their commitment towards assuring the quality of these programmes of study, by seeking Programmatic Accreditation with Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions (CAAM-HP).
Parliamentary Secretary in the Education Ministry, Senator Harry Husbands, stressed this to over 50 delegates attending the recent opening ceremony of CAAM-HP’s three-day Capacity Building Workshop at Courtyard by Marriotts.
Speaking on behalf of Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ronald Jones, he said: “Quality assurance is critical, as the public must be assured that the qualifications are well-designed; are “fit for purpose”, and that the programmes and courses of study leading to qualifications are delivered by recognised tertiary educational providers in Barbados.
“Tertiary educational providers of medical and other health-related programmes of study will therefore need to be, at minimum, registered with the Barbados Accreditation Council in order to operate in Barbados.”
Adding that this would signal that providers have met minimum standards to operate in Barbados, Senator Husbands pointed out that the ultimate goal would be to achieve accreditation status with CAAM-HP, which would in turn provide global recognition that the institution or programme has met quality standards as a medical school.
As the regional accreditation body, CAAM-HP was established in 2003 by CARICOM Governments with the main objective of standardising regional training through quality assurance standards to ensure the quality of the education delivered at these diverse institutions.
It is responsible for the accreditation of degree level programmes of education in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, nursing and other health professions offered by schools located in the participating countries of CARICOM, ensuring that these programmes are recognised nationally and regionally to be of international standard.