Written by Assoc. Prof. Muhamad Saiful Bahri Yusoff, CALOHEA Subject Area Group Coordinator; Pablo Beneitone and Maria Yarosh, CALOHEA Coordination Team
Following the conclusion of the CALOHEA National Meetings held throughout 2023, the time is ripe for the rolling out of results and progress from the CALOHEA qualifications framework development to universities across ASEAN. In this article, the spotlight is on the CALOHEA Regional Subject-Specific Qualifications Reference Framework in Medicine and its potential to serve as a benchmarking tool to ensure medical graduates’ preparedness for professional transition and enhance the internationalisation of medicine programmes across ASEAN.
CALOHEA Regional Subject-Specific Qualifications Reference Framework in Medicine articulates key dimensions and sub-dimensions within any graduate’s profile and makes explicit what knowledge, skills and responsibilities correspond to each of the defined (sub-)dimensions.
It has been developed by the Universiti Sains Malaysia (Malaysia), the Universitas Padjadjaran (Indonesia), the Universiti Malaya (Malaysia), the Universitas Hasanuddin (Indonesia), the West Visayas State University (the Philippines) & the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). The final product reflects opinions of academics, graduates, and employers from different countries involved and it has been validated through focus group discussions and two rounds of National Dissemination Meetings held throughout 2023 in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam (14 meetings in total).
The CALOHEA Medical Competency Framework was crafted as a vital tool to ensure our medical graduates are fully prepared for the challenges of becoming junior doctors. This framework outlines the essential knowledge, skills, and responsibilities needed to excel in their roles effectively. It emphasises three key areas: Knowledge Acquisition, where graduates deepen their understanding across various domains essential for medical practice; Skills Attainment, ensuring competency in critical clinical practices and patient care; and Responsibility Expectations, fostering professionalism and dedication to upholding the highest standards of patient care. Spanning six dimensions – from Health & Wellbeing to Professional Behaviour – the framework encompasses a holistic approach to medical education, emphasising ethics, humanities, professionalism, quality practice and lifelong learning. By adopting this framework, ASEAN countries demonstrate their commitment to producing competent, compassionate, and accountable healthcare professionals, ensuring the well-being of our communities for generations to come.
To consult the CALOHEA Regional Subject-Specific Qualifications Reference Framework in Medicine, visit https://calohea.org/
The CALOHEA Erasmus+ project is coordinated by the Tuning Academy of the University of Groningen (the Netherlands) and the ASEAN University Network and is co-funded by the European Commission.
