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Localizing WFME global standards: a comparative policy-text analysis of national medical education accreditation standards
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DOI：10.1186/s12909-026-10146-5.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) global standards provide a common framework for assuring the quality of basic medical education. National accrediting agencies, however, adapt these standards to local institutions and priorities. How this localization is expressed in accreditation policy texts remains unclear. We compared official accreditation standards from China, Japan, South Korea, and Australia with the 2015 WFME standards. We examined structural correspondence and whether national texts retained or rewrote WFME requirements and linked them to domestic governance, social responsibility, and equity. The analysis characterized four case-specific localization profiles. China retained nearly all of the WFME structure while linking its standards to domestic regulatory and administrative arrangements. Japan preserved WFME wording largely intact and contextualized it through annotations and guidance. South Korea combined a WFME-aligned structure with profession-led thresholds and accreditor-defined evidence requirements. Australia organized its standards more independently and placed the strongest emphasis among the four cases on responsibility and equity, particularly Indigenous health. Together, the cases show that structural correspondence with WFME and the strength of local governance, responsibility, and equity requirements are separate features. National accreditation standards do not simply adopt or depart from WFME. Comparisons should distinguish structural correspondence from the ways countries adapt content to their governance systems and social priorities. This distinction can help accrediting agencies and researchers describe national adaptation while preserving international comparability.
Keywords:
WFME global standards
Accreditation
Medical education
Quality assurance
Comparative policy-text analysis
Localization
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