International Medical Education Directory

FAIMER strives to be the single best source of data on international medical schools and their graduates. To this end, we have developed the following resources:

The International Medical Education Directory (IMED), managed by FAIMER, and the Avicenna Directory, managed by the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME), were merged to create the new World Directory of Medical Schools, which launched in April 2014. The availability of current, high-quality information on undergraduate medical education in the form of a centralized resource will advance research on the quality of medical education and efforts to improve medical education, with the ultimate goal of improving public health. IMED and the Avicenna Directory will remain open during the transition to the new World Directory, to ensure that medical regulatory authorities and other users of these directories have continuity of the essential service that they provide. The World Directory, however, will take over as the definitive list of medical schools in the world, and IMED and the Avicenna Directory will be discontinued in early 2016.

Directory of Organizations that Recognize/Accredit Medical Schools (DORA)

As part of our goal to build information resources on medical education worldwide, FAIMER is developing a directory of international organizations that recognize, authorize, or certify medical schools and/or medical education programs. These organizations are often responsible for the establishment of national standards for medical education and the recognition of medical schools in their countries.

International Medical Education Directory (IMED)

Introduced in 2002, the International Medical Education Directory (IMED) is a searchable database of the world’s medical schools that is freely available on the FAIMER website.

Schools that are recognized by the government agencies in the countries where the medical schools are located are listed in IMED. The agency responsible for this recognition in most countries is the Ministry of Health. The information listed for each medical school is provided by the appropriate government agency and by officials of the medical school.

The information available through IMED is derived from current and historical data collected by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG®) throughout its history of evaluating the medical education credentials of international medical graduates. FAIMER updates IMED regularly as new information is received. For additional information on the data in IMED, contact imed@faimer.org.

International Opportunities in Medical Education (IOME)

The directory of International Opportunities in Medical Education (IOME) provides information about international programs for medical students, residents, and faculty.

IOME is a work in progress, and will be updated as additional information becomes available. Our objective is to have a comprehensive resource that details the myriad programs and opportunities available.

Master's Programs in Health Professions Education

In conjunction with master's program directors, FAIMER is in the process of developing a directory of graduate programs in health professions education throughout the world. The directory provides detailed information about a variety of international master's programs in health professions education. In an effort to track the increasing number of programs available in this growing field, FAIMER will continue to add to this directory as new information is received.

Postgraduate Medical Education (PME) Project

The Postgraduate Medical Education (PME) Project is a directory that describes postgraduate medical education in countries around the world. The goal of the PME Project is to provide information on postgraduate medical specialty education at the country level and to identify the range of medical and surgical specialties and subspecialties recognized and available within each country. Information is provided on the duration of studies, trainee selection processes, specialty curricula and licensing authorities, areas of specialization, and regulations regarding specialty education and licensure/certification. The PME Project is updated as new information becomes available.