The UCF College of Medicine was awarded provisional accreditation this week, the second of three approvals needed in order to become a fully accredited college.
Once the third approval is awarded, the College of Medicine will be able to provide degrees for its students.
According to a press release sent to KnightNews.com, Dr. Deborah German, vice president for medical affairs and founding dean of the UCF College of Medicine stated on June 15th, “ I am delighted with the LCME’ s decision and am especially proud of the College of Medicine team — our faculty, students, staff and community partners – who are responsible for our extraordinary success. While we are still very young, we are on track to becoming the nation’ s premier 21st century college of medicine.”
In 2009, UCF’ s College of Medicine provided each member of its first class with $40,000 annually, for four years. Consisting of 40 students, $20,000 has gone to tuition, while the other $20,000 goes to living expenses.
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) is responsible for granting medical degree programs for schools throughout the United States and Canada. After visiting UCF in February, the committee evaluated the programs progress and determined that they met the standards to be granted the provisional accreditation.
“ Full accreditation is necessary for our graduates to be licensed and to be admitted into residency programs,” said Wendy Sarubbi, Coordinator of Information/Publications Services for UCF College of Medicine. “ So accreditation means everything.”
The College of Medicine currently has 100 students and will be enrolling its third class of 80 students in August.
“ Provisional accreditation means the LCME has examined and approved our progress in providing our charter class with its first two years of training and education,” said Sarubbi. “ In the fall of 2012, the LCME will return and look at what we have done for all four years and make its determination.”
When the charter class is in its fourth year of the schools program in 2013, the LCME will determine if the college will receive full accreditation.
