Project Title: The Joint Development of a Master’s Degree in Education for Health Professions Faculty in the United States and India

Partner Institution: Maharashtra University of the Health Sciences

 

From 1 January 2013 to 31 March 2013, considerable progress was made in planning for the MHPE programs in both India and the U.S. At the University of Michigan, the planning group developed a final matrix of competencies to be attained by students in the MHPE and the Professional Activities by which those students would both learn the necessary knowledge, attitudes and skills and be evaluated for evidence of competence. The details of this program were reviewed and approved by the Medical School Executive Committee in February and was reviewed and approved by the Regents of the University of Michigan on 18 April 2013. Several queries have been received from interested students and a student has been admitted, even though the program has not yet been officially announced or advertised. The UM planning group continues to meet regularly to refine the educational activities for the program, identify faculty members and define the critical assessment standards and criteria.

 

At the Maharashtra University of the Health Sciences, a six-person team of faculty members from the University of Michigan visited between 21-17 March 2013 to conduct workshops and meetings with relevant faculty and administrators. One workshop included representatives of the various medical schools subsumed in the MUHS. These participants included deans, chancellors, department chairs and other leaders. The focus of the workshop was competency-based education, a framework that has been mandated at the national level for health professions schools. These participants were eager to learn more about the philosophy and implications of competency-based education. The UM team provided a number of talks and activities to convey these principles and encourage participants in thinking of ways to incorporate them into their own programs.

 

The second meeting was a two-day session for a more select group of faculty members, some from MUHS but others from schools across India. This meeting focused specifically on the MHPE program at the MUHS. The participants were the national leaders in health professions education in India and provided a very sophisticated working group for evaluating the needs in India for advanced training in health professions education. The UM provided their perspective on, and experiences with, the competency-based framework of the MHPE program being developed at UM. Several discussion sessions ensued to consider the fit of this framework to India, MUHS, and the available educational resources for such a program.

 

 

Image courtesy of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor