The ultimate goal of this project is to enhance quality of medical/health education in the countries of Eastern Partnership (Georgia, Moldova, Belarus) and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan) through setting instruments and goals of peer review. 12 institutions in 5 partner countries will take an advantage of knowledge and expertise share from 2 institutions from Bulgaria and Lithuania. The relative uniformity of problems in higher medical/health education in partner countries are derived from the common past. Through different capacity building interventions, execution of peer reviews, knowledge sharing, laying foundation for sustainability and wider dissemination of project’s end products, we envisage the following results to be achieved: 1. Increased awareness on peer review process in academic and administrative domains in partner country institutions; 2. A Multinational Peer Review Board (MPRB) established; 3. Consistency of a continuous peer review process in partner country institutions achieved; 4. Capacity of faculty members and administrative staff in: a. conducting effective self assessment tasks; and b. peer reviewing their vis-à-vis increased; 5. An annual scientific-practical journal of “Peer Review in Medical/Health Education for Eastern Europe and Central Asia” (PRIMED-EECA) established; 6. The level of internationalization of HEIs elevated; 7. Awareness on project’s achievements among the key stakeholders increased. The project will ensure that the achieved results are sustainable and being exploited in the foreseeable future by establishing the above mentioned journal and an independent cross-national Peer Review Association for Medical/Health Education of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (PRAMED-EECA) aimed at: a. Providing a pool of highly qualified and readily available peer reviewers; and b. Assisting medical schools in the targeted regions in effectively preparing for international accreditation.
1. Raising awareness on peer review; 2. Establishing a peer review board; 3. Conducting actual peer reviews (base-line and follow-up); 4. Capacity building of peer reviewers and establishing the peer review association; 5. Establishing a peer review journal; 6. Enhancing internationalization of involved HEIs; 7. Disseminating the project-achieved results.
The project addressed the issue of quality of medical education in relation with its capacity to self-improve via introducing the notion of peer review. The medical/health HEIs in the targeted partner countries are heavily dependent on the procedures of the national accreditation agencies and their capacity for mutual assistance and review both domestically and internationally has been extremely limited. Therefore, the project offered the whole new avenue for building this capacity.
<< Background >> The project addressed the issue of quality of medical education in relation with its capacity to self-improve via introducing the notion of peer review. The medical/health HEIs in the targeted partner countries are heavily dependent on the procedures of the national accreditation agencies and their capacity for mutual assistance and review both domestically and internationally has been extremely limited. Therefore, the project offered the whole new avenue for building this capacity. << Objectives >> 1. Raising awareness on peer review; 2. Establishing a peer review board; 3. Conducting actual peer reviews (base-line and follow-up); 4. Capacity building of peer reviewers and establishing the peer review association; 5. Establishing a peer review journal; 6. Enhancing internationalization of involved HEIs; 7. Disseminating the project-achieved results. << Implementation >> The implementation of the project took place under the COVID-19 travel restrictions. The project leadership made a decision to proceed with implementation in a hybrid format. All the objectives have been met and almost all activities have been conducted except those, which could not be achieved under restrictions, such 2 annual conferences. << Results >> 1. Awareness on peer review has been raised; 2. The peer review board established and functional; 3. Totally 24 peer review missions accomplished; 4. More than 70 peer reviewers trained and the peer review association established; 5. The peer review journal established; 6. The degree of internationalization of targeted HEIs increased; 7. The project achieved results disseminated domestically and internationally.