Accreditation of 3 Medical Physics postgraduate courses in S. Korea
The IOMP Accreditation Board (https://www.iomp.org/accreditation/) was established in 2017 to evaluate and accredit Medical Physics education and training events. An important part of the accreditation process is the site visit to verify the written information provided by the applicant and assess parameters that cannot be described adequately in written form (assess labs and other key facilities, meet faculty members, students and administrative officials, review dissertations etc). Applicants must meet certain standards to be accredited. For IOMP Accreditation Board standards include:
- IAEA Publication, Training Course Series No. 56 (endorsed by the IOMP) http://wwwpub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/IAEA-TCS-56_web.pdf
- IOMP Policy Statement No. 2 ‘Basic requirements for education and training of medical physicists’
The first IOMP accreditation was awarded to Master of Advanced Studies in Medical Physics, International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy in 2016. An important recent accreditation activity was the accreditation of 3 medical physics courses in South Korea organized by the Catholic University, the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Yonsei University. The IOMP assessment team (Prof. J. Damilakis, Dr V. Tsapaki, Prof. A. Chougule) visited the 3 universities and attached hospitals/labs running the courses in Korea in July 2019 and concluded that they meet the requirements of IOMP accreditation and deliver the highest standards of education in Medical Physics. The modules of all courses at the 3 Universities covered the main learning outcomes and followed the respective IAEA/IOMP recommendations. Assessors discussed the MSc courses as well as the PhD research with many students during the visit. Feedback was excellent. All students were satisfied with the content and level of the lectures. Their orientation and motivation were clear and strong. The lectures were very well organised and had appropriate content and teaching material. All courses received full accreditation.
We would like to thank Prof. Tae Suk Suh and the course directors of the 3 postgraduate courses for their professionalism and the endless hours they have spent for the preparation of this accreditation and congratulate the 3 Universities for having met the IOMP accreditation standards.