The College of Medicine, at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) is awarded with “ASPIRE to EXCELLENCE” in the “Student Engagement category” for the year 2021 from the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) leading international association for medical education.

The ASPIRE initiative encourages and promotes outstanding performance and excellence in medical education in the categories of assessment, student engagement, social accountability, faculty development, simulation and Curriculum Development.

The College demonstrated excellence in student engagement across multiple areas, including governance, curriculum, healthcare delivery, evaluation and societal engagement.

The ASPIRE award scheme recognizes international excellence in medical, dental and veterinary schools. The aim is to promote outstanding performance and excellence in schools in terms of their mission and teaching and learning programme, taking into account the challenges and contexts in which a college is operating. The programme has as International Board of distinguished leaders in medical education as members and is supported by AMEE, working with other organizations with an interest in medical education.

The ASPIRE review Panel on Student Engagement recognizes that the College of Medicine, IAU has overcome a number of barriers to including student engagement as a priority for the institution. The review panel believes that the College of Medicine can serve as a role model for its efforts to address and successfully overcome such challenges.

AMEE commended that Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) - provides excellent opportunities for student engagement and several of their achievements can be considered as examples of excellence in medical education. Students are very actively involved in enhancing the quality of campus life and participating in the curricula development.

The presentation of the award will be held at the AMEE 2021 conference.