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Editorial
Project-based faculty development: Indian perspectives
Faculty development(FD) is considered a vital input to
maintain and improve the quality of teaching.[1] In developing
countries like ours, the challenge is 2foldon one hand,
there is shortage of medical schools to produce the required
number of graduates and on the other hand, unprepared
teachers are not able to deliver quality medical education.
The issue has warranted attention since last many years and
culminated in the establishment of National Teacher Training
Centers(NTTCs) at 5 medical schools in the country in
1976.These NTTCs used to impart a 610days long program
covering various aspects of teaching and learning.[2] However,
most of these courses were one contact courses, without
much followup, although at some places, the concept of a
project work was introduced.There were some gains in terms
of many teachers opting for these courses and later duplicating
them in their own institutions. However, there was no proper
followup of these programs in terms of documenting their
impact or effectiveness.
Over the years, many other institutions like All India Institute
of Medical Sciences, NewDelhi also ventured into this area
with a focused approach like assessment. Alarge number
of teachers were trained, but again the content delivery
remained limited to the contact sessions only, with hardly any
followup.The Medical Council of India in its 1997 regulations
also mandated the establishment of medical education units
in each college, which were required to conduct inhouse
training sessions.[3] Most of the times, these sessions were
a replication of the training received at NTTCs or other
avenues and got standardized as a 3day workshop format,
with a day each being devoted to objectives, teaching learning
and assessment.
FD is an expensive affair with both direct and indirect costs
contributing to the burden. Its equivalenthuman resource
developmentis often used in the industry as a means to
maintain quality and the impact is often monitored. The
utility of any program will manifest only if the participants
take the knowledge and skills back to the workplace. This
process called transfer of training is crucial for the success
of any such initiative. It is estimated that not more than 20%
of what is learned is actually used at the workplace.[4] We
do not have any data for FD, but it is reasonable to assume
that the figure would not be more than this.There are many
reasons for the lack of transfer,[5] the prominent ones being
training which is conceptually different from actual working
conditions.
2015 International Journal of Applied and Basic Medical Research | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow
In the year 2005, Foundation for Advancement of
International Medical Education and Research(FAIMER)
established its first regional institute(FRI) for FD in Mumbai,
followed by one in 2006 in Ludhiana. The curriculum used
in FRIs was different from the programs being offered
till now,[6] in the sense that it was a longitudinal program
spanning over2years(and even longer if the participant
so desired) and emphasized the importance of educational
networking and educational leadership, in addition to basing
its curriculum on projectbased learning model.
An educational innovation project is an essential component
of FAIMER training(in addition to being one of the selection
criteria). The fellows propose the outline of an innovation
project with their application. During the contact sessions,
the faculty and peers help them to modify their project in
an implementable shape.Alarge chunk of training is devoted
to project management and evaluation with use of program
evaluation tools. It is based on the assumption that carrying
out the project will provide the fellows an opportunity for
hands on applying what they learn. In addition, it will also bring
visibility to the efforts being made across various institutions.
The regulatory authority of medical education in
IndiaMedical Council of Indiaalso gave an impetus to FD
by initiating a nationwide FD program in 2009 named as basic
course,[7] with the objective of covering almost 100% of the
medical teachers to basic concepts of education.The program
was well accepted and 5years down the line, over20,000
teachers have been covered. Encouraged by the success, the
Medical Council of India came out with an advanced course,
now renamed as Fellowship in Medical Education in 2014,[7]
which again is based on the concept of project based learning.
In this special issue of the journal on the theme of
Innovations in Medical Education Technology, you will
find examples of various innovative projects carried out
by fellows for one of these programs. They may not be as
rigorous as randomized controlled trials, but they indicate
a trend of change and a small effort by enthusiastic teachers
to make medical education better so that it can help us to
produce a healthy India.
Tejinder Singh
Program Director, CMCL-FAIMER Regional Institute,
Department of Pediatrics, and Medical Education, Christian
Medical College, Ludhiana, Punjab, India
S1
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Singh: Project-based faculty development

Address for correspondence: Dr. Tejinder Singh,
CMCL-FAIMER Regional Institute, Christian Medical College,
Ludhiana - 141 008, Punjab, India.
E-mail: cmcl.faimer@gmail.com
References
1. SwanM, SwainJ. The impact of a professional development
program on practices and beliefs of teachers. JFurther High Educ
2010;34:16577.
2. SriniwasDK, AdkoliBV. Faculty development in medical education in
India: Need of the day. Al Ameen J Med Sci 2009;2:613.
3. Medial Council of India. Regulations on Graduate Medical Education.
Available from: http://www.mciindia.org/RulesandRegulations/
GraduateMedicalEducationRegulations1997.aspx.[Last cited on
2015May31].
4. SinghT. Faculty developmentWhy it fails to impress us? Natl Med J
India 2013;26:969.
5. BurkeLA, HutchinsHM. Training transfer: An integrative literature
review. Hum Resour Dev Rev 2007;6:26396.
6. FAIMER. Available from: http://www.faimer.org/education/regional.
html.[Last cited on 2015May31].
7. Medical Council of India. Faculty Development Programs. Available
from: http://www.mciindia.org/InformationDesk/ForColleges/
FacultyDevelopmentProgrammes.aspx.[Last cited on 2015May31].
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How to cite this article: Singh T. Project-based faculty development: Indian
perspectives. Int J App Basic Med Res 2015;5:S1-2.

S2 International Journal of Applied and Basic Medical Research, 2015, Vol 5, Supplement 1