Clinical medicine program accreditation as the impetus to sustainable development of Shantou University Medical College

Shantou University Medical College (SUMC) received full accreditation for Clinical Medicine programs in 2009. It was the first accredited medical schools after the medical educational standards were formally issued in China. Ever since then, a series of measures based on the feedback from the accreditation specialists were taken in SUMC and the progress report was submitted to the Accreditation Committee in 2011, 2013 and 2015 separately. During 2009-2015, SUMC developed with a high speed and achieved great outcomes on medical education, which have been highly regarded by the accreditation specialists. This article aims at reviewing the motivation and steps of accreditation in SUMC, with focuses on the subsequent reforms and achievements. The clinical medicine program accreditation system and the undergraduate teaching assessment system are also compared according to the SUMC experiences. It is concluded that clinical medicine program accreditation is efficient to promote medical education in China by creating impetus for continuous improvement. Key words: Clinical medicine program; Accreditation; Direction; Criticize