Medical Board of Australia - Standards, reports and resources
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Standards, reports and resources

The specialist pathway is for international medical graduates (IMGs) who are overseas-trained specialists seeking specialist registration in Australia (specialist recognition) or who are applying for an area of need specialist level position in Australia.

The Board has published resources for applicants and standards for colleges on the specialist pathway.

Resources for applicants PDF  Accessible format   Document date
Guide to Specialist pathway  PDF (317KB)    1 January 2021 
Frequently asked questions - Specialist pathway PDF (87.3KB) Word version
(663KB,DOCX)
1 October 2015
Frequently asked questions - Changes to the Specialist pathways implemented in 2014  PDF (64.6KB) Word version
(648KB,DOCX)
30 June 2014
Standards for colleges PDF  Accessible format  Document date
Standards: Specialist medical college assessment of specialist international medical graduates

These standards have replaced the Good practice guidelines for the specialist international medical graduate assessment process
PDF (409KB)   1 January 2021 

Reports

Specialist medical colleges’ specialist pathway data

Commencing 1 July 2014, specialist medical colleges report their specialist pathway activity directly to the Medical Board of Australia.

Reporting is annual by calendar year. The Board has published the data commencing from the first full calendar year of reporting (1 January – 31 December 2015).

 
Document name PDF Accessible format Document date
Report on Specialist medical colleges specialist pathway data 1 January 2022 - 31 December 2022  PDF
(786 KB)
Word version
(674 KB,DOCX)
12 September 2023
Report on Specialist medical colleges specialist pathway data 1 January 2021 - 31 December 2021 
PDF 
(2.36MB)

Word version 
(16.9 MB,DOCX)

15 August 2022
Report on Specialist medical colleges specialist pathway data 1 January 2020 - 31 December 2020  PDF
(1.72MB)
Word version
(15.3 MB,DOCX)
7 July 2021
Report on Specialist medical colleges specialist pathway data 1 January 2019 - 31 December 2019  PDF
(1.72MB)
Word version
(10.8 MB,DOCX)
14 September 2020
Report on Specialist medical colleges specialist pathway data 1 January 2018 – 31 December 2018 PDF 
(1.73MB)
Word version 
(9.16 MB,DOCX)
15 October 2019
Report on Specialist medical colleges specialist pathway data 1 January 2017 - 31 December 2017 PDF 
(1.25MB)
Word version 
(11.4 MB,DOCX)
28 May 2018
Report on Specialist medical colleges specialist pathway data 1 January 2016 - 31 December 2016 PDF 
(415KB)
Word version 
(4.5 MB,DOCX)
9 June 2017 
Report on Specialist medical colleges specialist pathway data 1 January 2015 - 31 December 2015

PDF 
(523KB)

Word version 
(247 KB,DOCX)
7 October 2016 

External review of specialist medical colleges’ assessment of international medical graduates

Recommendation 25 of  The Independent review of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for health professionals was:

The Medical Board of Australia to evaluate and report on the performance of specialist colleges in applying standard assessments of International Medical Graduate applications and apply benchmarks for timeframes for completion of assessments.

In response to this recommendation, the Medical Board of Australia commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to undertake an external review of the performance of the specialist medical colleges in their assessment of specialist IMGs.

The Board provided colleges with an opportunity to correct any errors of fact in the report. The following colleges have provided corrections:

College PDF Accessible format* Document date
Australasian College of Dermatologists PDF (296 KB) 27 April 2018 
Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists PDF (102 KB) - 27 April 2018
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners PDF (170 KB) - 27 April 2018
Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators PDF (239 KB) - 27 April 2018
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists PDF (135 KB) - 27 April 2018
The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia PDF (53.7 KB) - 27 April 2018

The Board has accepted the report and has issued a media statement and a response to Deloitte’s recommendations.

Board's response

Media statement

Retired versions

Resources for applicants PDF  Accessible format   Date of effect
Retired version: Guide to the Specialist pathway PDF (446KB) Word version
(1.27MB,DOCX)
To 31 December 2020
Retired version: Good practice guidelines for the specialist international medical graduate assessment process PDF (1.46MB) Word version 
(2.08MB,DOCX)
To 31 December 2020

 

*Exemption from Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

The above documents have been made available on this website in compliance with the National Law and also in the interest of transparency. Wherever possible, AHPRA and the Medical Board provides web content in accessible formats. However in cases where the documents have been provided by other parties, accessible format files may not be available or be approved for use.

If you have difficulty accessing one of these documents, please contact AHPRA at webservices@ahpra.gov.au, and we will attempt to provide you with an accessible version.

 
 
Page reviewed 12/09/2023