FMGE: Over 40% of foreign medical colleges Indians attended unaccredited; many without hospitals, websites

The two sessions of the Foreign Graduates Medical Examination in 2022 (FMGE exam) had over 50,000 Indian graduates of 496 foreign medical colleges writing it. A closer look at the institutions Indians chose for their MBBS abroad has revealed startling gaps in what is known or could be confirmed about them.

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Careers360 checked the status of accreditation of the foreign medical colleges and could find evidence of some form of accreditation for only 293 out of the 496 institutions – a little less than 60%. Just 205 of the institutions – less than half by a wide margin – were accredited by the main medical education regulator of the country, the equivalent of India’s National Medical Commission; 88 were accredited by some other agency. Just 217 of the medical colleges – again, less than half – were accredited by a government body.

Similarly, many seem to be functioning without a hospital of their own or even a tie-up with one; the vast majority don’t show up in any credible international university ranking list; about four dozen appear to not have a functioning or easily-accessible website. Together, they raise questions about the quality of medical education being imparted at these institutions.

The erstwhile Medical Council of India had furnished a list of foreign medical colleges recognised by India. This was a selection based on feedback from India’s diplomatic missions to the respective countries. However, the NMC, which replaced the MCI in 2020, offers no such guidance and since 2018, that due diligence has been left entirely to the students themselves.

The NMC website says: “The National Medical Commission does not endorse any list of foreign medical institutions/universities for MBBS or equivalent course. The public at large is advised that before taking admission in MBBS or its equivalent course in a university outside India, confirmation of the fee structure, details of the course… etc., should be directly obtained from the university/ institution concerned.”

Also check: No Indian student from 90 foreign medical colleges cracked FMGE 2022

FMGE Exam: More colleges, same pass-percentage

Indian graduates of foreign medical institutions must qualify the FMGE to be allowed to register and practise in India. The number of medical colleges represented in the FMGE’s list has grown steadily over the past few years and all through the COVID-19 pandemic, from 301 in 2019 to 496 in 2022. Just from the 380 in 2021, there has been a jump of over 30%.

Foreign medical colleges on FMGE exam list

Over the same period, the number of candidates writing the FMGE – these would be foreign medical graduates who left college the previous year or before – has risen as well, from around 28,600 in 2019 to over 54,000 in 2022, an increase of over 88%.

As the first part of this series has shown, despite this growth, the FMGE pass percentage has remained dismal, at a mere 23.35% in 2022 and never crossing 25%. Close to 40,000 graduates who hoped to return and practise in India must keep writing the FMGE until they pass or the MBBS abroad for these Indian students becomes a very expensive misadventure.

Careers360’s examination of the institutions that many of these students attended may offer some insights into the problem.

MBBS Abroad: How many colleges ranked, accredited?

Just 88 of the 496 medical colleges – less than a fifth – from which Indian FMGE candidates graduated show up in a credible international university ranking list. Careers360 checked in Quacquarelli Symonds, Times Higher Education, Center for World University Rankings and Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as “Shanghai Rankings”. Given below is the distribution of the 88 colleges across the four.

Where medical colleges represented in FMGE exam ranked

Careers360 was admittedly generous in its acceptance of claims made about accreditation, accepting even those granted by private entities (53) and bodies other than the main regulatory authority of the country (88). We found only a private accrediting body in the Philippines, and many medical universities and colleges across countries, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, were accredited by a single body, the private Independent Agency for Accreditation and Rating (IAAR).

For example, Osh State University Medical Faculty, which sent 1,541 Indian candidates to FMGE 2022, is accredited by the IAAR. Just 18.43% of the graduates cleared. Similarly, the Davao Medical School Foundation College of Medicine sent 2,540 Indian candidates to FMGE 2022. Of them, 29.53% passed. It is accredited by the private Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU).

It is also pertinent to mention that in the case of several accreditation bodies, critical documents on processes and conditions are in languages other than English. This would make due diligence of the kind NMC expects from students a significant challenge.

MBBS Abroad: Hospitals and accommodation

Only for 382 institutions, Careers360 could say with any degree of confidence that they had hospitals of their own or tie-ups with others.

For as many as 10 colleges in the Philippines, Careers360 could not ascertain the existence of any hospital or ties with other institutions. The situation was the same for eight colleges in Georgia and four in Kazakhstan.

However, where hospitals were definitely present, they had names and web addresses of their own as well.

Foreign Medical Colleges: Websites and emails

The first stop for any student attempting to run a check on an institution would be to find its website. Careers360 could not find easily-accessible websites for around four dozen institutions.

For instance, Tbilisi State Medical University ‘Hippocrates’ in Georgia, which had two students appearing for FMGE 2022, does not show up in online searches. There is the Tbilisi State Medical University – a public institution – and a document from the Indian embassy in Yerevan, Armenia, which lists the institution. There are dozens of links from study abroad consultants and other middlemen but none of the institution itself.

The Ministry of Education and Culture of the Autonomous Republic of Akhbazia – which Georgia does not recognise – lists a Tbilisi State Medical University ‘Hippocrates’ and links to the website, hippocrates.edu.ge, presumably the website for the medical college, but it does not work.

Apart from the problems posed by websites being in foreign languages, geopolitical tensions and secessionary movements, even minor details such as email addresses can raise questions. Email addresses of many officials show they are Gmail or Yahoo accounts – not official ones – and some websites, like that of Gullas College of Medicine, University of The Visayas, in the Philippines, seem designed to specifically target Indian students. The contact details section on its homepage has a mobile number with India’s ISD code – +91 – and images, ostensibly of students, who look Indian or, at least, strikingly un-Filipino.

In some cases, even if the site exists, it is utterly unhelpful. As many as 450 Indian students from Jiamusi University School of Medicine appeared for FMGE 2022 – the pass percentage was an appalling 6.67% – but absolutely nothing could be established about this institution from India.

Jiamusi University itself has a website but no page in it offers any information. Pages for its history, administrators, schools and departments, disciplines and specialities, campus culture, and image gallery are all blank. En.jmsu.edu.cn is about as useful to students looking for information as a nonexistent website.