The qualitative results are summarized in three sections: 1. Fellow’s self-perceived success; 2. contextual factors contributing to success, and 3. FAIMER’s contribution to their success. The top two or three common, emergent themes from each section are reported in this paper.
Fellows’ characteristics
Table 1 lists the characteristics of study participants. Eight (57%) of the 14 Fellows were female. two (14%) were from Africa (South Africa), nine (64%) from Asia (China and India) and three (21%) from Latin America (Brazil). Out of the 14 Fellows, 10 (71%) primarily work in teaching, and 4 (29%) in clinical fields. Five (36%) Fellows held leadership positions at their institutions. Except for three Fellows, all others were faculty in one or more FAIMER FDP(s).
Table 1
Characteristics of study participants (Fellows) (N = 14)
Characteristics | Women (N = 8) | Men (N = 6) | Overall (N = 14) |
Region |
Africa | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Asia | 6 | 3 | 9 |
Latin America | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Academic Rank (current) |
Professor/Associate Professor | 3 | 2 | 5 |
Other (e.g. lecturer) | 4 | 5 | 9 |
Predominantly working in |
Clinical setting | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Teaching | 6 | 4 | 10 |
Administrative Role (current) |
Vice Chancellor Dean/Director/President | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Head of department | 1 | 0 | 1 |
No administrative role | 3 | 5 | 8 |
Faculty at a FAIMER Institute | 7 | 4 | 11 |
1. Fellows’ self-perceived success
The data on Fellow’s self-perceived success resulted in emergence of three major themes, namely career advancement and recognition, professional development, and advancement of HPE. These themes and subthemes are summarized in Table 2, followed by illustrative quotes.
Table 2
Themes and subthemes on Fellows’ self-perceived success (N = 14)
Themes and subthemes | Number of codes* |
A. Career advancement & recognition • Career growth • leadership and management • Global and national recognition • Mentoring others | 13 |
B. Professional development • Formal education/training in HPE • Scholarship portfolio | 13 |
C. Advancement of health profession education • Course/assessment system development • Curriculum, teaching and/or policy reform | 9 |
* More than one code could be assigned to each respondent’s interview.
A. Career advancement & recognition
Most Fellows perceived success as a reflection of their career advancement and recognition. Career growth, particularly promotion at their workplace, assuming leadership roles and having more administrative responsibilities were considered important pathways to success.
“Considering my knowledge and expertise in the previous institution, I was appointed as head of examination in the new university which I developed from scratch.” (Fellow #8)
“I have been able to progress from just being a lecturer at university, to becoming the Deputy Vice Chancellor for research and innovation ... my career as an academic, and in the higher education sector has been successful. (Fellow #14)
Fellows also perceived their success reflected by being recognized by national bodies for innovation and evaluation reforms in medical education, particularly in resource-constrained settings. Other perceived success as exemplified in professional advancement, include attaining global recognition as faculty, resource persons and experts in HPE, and through collaborations with international agencies including FAIMER. In addition, recognition as student and faculty mentors at the regional level was considered as an achievement by two Fellows.
“They called me ‘father of medical education’ due to my involvement in HPE activities all around the region and considering my role in qualifying large number of scholars.” (Fellow #1)
“The students consider me as a mentor as I helped them learn better, had good relations with them and made them more interested in education.” (Fellow #3)
“I gained opportunities for career advancement being invited as a faculty in regional Institutes and as facilitator, external assessor for HPE courses outside my country… a greater recognition of my expertise.” (Fellow #8)
B. Professional development
Professional development, reported by Fellows, included acquiring higher degrees, educational scholarships, individual and collaborative publications.
“I had an opportunity to complete master’s in health Professions Education abroad, sponsored by FAIMER.” (Fellow #4)
“FAIMER gives us the platform to meet medical educators from different medical schools, form a community, exchange, and grow.” (Fellow #6)
Some Fellows also reported a growing scholarship portfolio.
Since 2009, I have published some Chinese papers, and then I have also started to publish in English… I was the only one who had SCI [Science Citation Indexed Journal] paper published in medical education. (Fellow #2)
“I am the author of four books in medical education, available worldwide. Particularly the book on community-based education is disseminated worldwide.” (Fellow #10)
C. Advancement of health professions education
Fellows reported contributing to HPE in manifold ways such as developing courses and assessment systems, establishing advanced HPE courses, implementing faculty development programs, and enhancing the visibility of medical education at regional, national, and international level. Other examples of contributing to HPE were module development at the national level under expert mentorship and curriculum and/or policy reform. Some Fellows noted that their success and sense of accomplishment increased because of their involvement in national and international collaborations for curricular reforms.
“I was successful in introducing medical education at regional, national and international levels reaching out to scholars.” (Fellow #5)
“I introduced a whole region to medical education- very geographically wide like the Eastern Mediterranean region… I have 3 distance learning programs that reach out to scholars, national, regional and international wide.” (Fellow #10)
“I think, is very helpful to me is doing is a large program for faculty development, and this is a comprehensive, integrated program.” (Fellow #11)
“We implemented the (TBL) methodology in this class and we created and instrument for the students to evaluate the teaching and learning process. The results of this evaluation generated a paper…. So, we started getting out from our school, from our university and we disseminated this methodology to other institutions.” (Fellow #13)
2. Contextual factors contributing to success
Two major themes (See Table 3), institutional-level factors, and personal attributes have contributed to Fellow’s success.
Table 3
Themes and subthemes related to contextual factors contributing to Fellows’ success (N = 14)
Themes and subthemes | Number of codes* |
A. Institutional-level factors • Robust medical educations units/Support from institutions • Guide/resources/opportunities provided by mentors • Institutional stature and influence • Grants and fundraising availability • Supportive work culture | 17 |
B. Personal attributes • Passion to medical education/Dedication to work • Willing to make changes • Being generous and tolerant | 6 |
* More than one code could be assigned to each respondent’s interview.
A. Institutional-level factors
Fellows stated that working in institutions with strong medical education units was a key catalyst for success. Institutions offered strong support to the Fellows in executing innovative ideas and put emphasis on medical education while giving prime importance to patient care.
“A Robust medical education existed in my institution at the time of joining [FAIMER Fellowship program], which called for recruiting faculty members who can give inputs to program.” (Fellow #7)
“The institutional support was amazing! All started at my academic unit, with the director from my school motivating me to participate at FAIMER…, the institutional support came from the university president who bought the idea of a faculty development program to every school. His support is too valuable because it became a management policy.” (Fellow #13)
Fellows were grateful to have mentors guiding them in multiple ways, opening opportunities for research and scholarship, training and providing constructive feedback. Success was also attributed to having mentors who displayed admirable leadership traits.
“My mentor involved me as a facilitator in training sessions, in an open atmosphere with lot of interactions and feedback.” (Fellow #6)
Success was significantly influenced by institutional prominence and influence. The credibility of the institution and working in highly influential medical schools and universities was cited as helpful by the Fellows. One Fellow indicated that increased visibility in the field of HPE was noticed by the ministry of higher education resulting in being funded for upgrading medical education.
“Being in a highly influential medical university/platform influences the result.” (Fellow #2).
“Leading position of the Institute in the whole country provides a higher starting point.” (Fellow #4).
B. Personal attributes
Working for institutions that have the power to act and the ability to seize opportunities were cited by a few Fellows as contributors to success. Passion for medical education, willing to make changes, dedication to work, being generous and tolerant, self-confidence and perseverance were other personal attributes listed.
“… being generous and tolerant is also very important. That is, you should not haggle over everything with others. You should learn to be tolerant and help others.” (Fellow #2)
“I think that was the major thing behind my success - passion to medical education. This is one thing. The other thing is that I was honest with myself and with everything, with everyone around me, honesty.” (Fellow #10)
“I have always been a person who is not satisfied with the current situation. I always want to change…I always hope to improve.” (Fellow #11)
“I think I had an important role with the dedication I put into implementing the changes: I created working groups and learned to share tasks, since I would not be able to do all by myself.” (Fellow #12)
3. FAIMER’s contributions to their success
Three themes emerged from analyzing the descriptions of Fellows about FAIMER’s contributions to success - expanding professional network, fostering academic achievement, and enhancing interpersonal development and leadership skills (see Table 4).
Table 4
Themes and subthemes related to FAIMER’s contribution to success (N = 14)
Themes and subthemes | Number of codes |
A. Expand professional network • Platform for networking • Broaden/widen communication • Increase opportunity to connect | 13 |
B. Foster academic achievement • Publications • Advanced degree and qualification • Recognition of expertise | 10 |
C. Enhance interpersonal development and leadership skills • Ability to self-reflect • Understand self and others • Leadership skills | 9 |
* More than one code could be assigned to each respondent’s interview.
A. Expand professional network
Fellows reported that FAIMER FDPs facilitated the expansion of their professional network and as well as an international platform for communication and connectivity.
“FAIMER provided me an international platform which helped me in networking.” (Fellow #3)
“FAIMER´s inclusion of all health professionals and development of our abilities are two things that comes to my mind…Plurality and interdisciplinarity. And collaboration! Collaboration is the most fantastic thing from FAIMER. The collaboration network is unbelievable!” (Fellow #13)
B. Foster academic achievement
FAIMER’s contributions to fostering academic achievement was defined by increase in educational research studies and publications, sponsorship for advanced degree and education, and receiving recognition as an expert and resource person in HPE because of FAIMER qualification.
“I would like to thank FAIMER, exposure to XXX University as it changed the way I study and the way I teach. That masters made difference on how I do things.” (Fellow #1)
“FAIMER stimulated and inspired me to do educational research.” (Fellow #3)
“I am now in a position to transform our curriculum with my FAIMER qualification.” (Fellow #5)
C. Enhance interpersonal development and leadership skills
Fellows highlighted interpersonal development, such as the ability to self-reflect, and understand people.
“FAIMER taught me to reflect on my strengths and weakness which helped me personally.” (Fellow #1)
“To understand your people around you, it gave me a better insight on understanding people with whom you are working.” (Fellow #6)
Leadership skills enhancement was another FAIMER’s contribution to their success.
“In addition, through FAIMER, I learned some specific skills. For example, the one that has a great impact on me is leadership.” (Fellow #11)
“FAIMER program and all the learning process coming from it contributed a lot for the leadership role I took over in the process of restructuring the curriculum.” (Fellow #12)