The Present Situation and Future Direction of the Korean Dental Education Accreditation System: Present and Future

Abstract

The Korean Institute of Dental Education and Evaluation (KIDEE) was established in 2007 to provide the quality assurance in dental education. The KIDEE has been recognized by The Ministry of Education from Jan. 2015 for 5 years. KIDEE had accredited basic dental education programs of all 11 Korean dental schools. The dental accreditation system was introduced to encourage the improvement for dental schools, to ensure the quality of dental practice and most of all, to establish an internationally compatible system of evaluation and accreditation. The accreditation system in Korea is supported by voluntary service of many dental professionals and contribute to improve the quality of dental education program in all institutions. The accreditation by KIDEE let the students and the dentists be taught with assured education program and the all Koreans be cared by the qualified dentists. A quality education system thus provides a sufficient number of qualified dental health professionals to meet the workforce needs of the nation. Ultimately, this should result in quality oral health care for the public. Finally, by specifying the competencies of graduates, the standards will define the scope of dental practice. This may serve to define the profession of dentistry and differentiate it from other health professions, or to differentiate among the specialties in dentistry in the case of advanced dental education programs.