[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 34, Volume 3] [Revised as of July 1, 2001] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 34CFR600.55] [Page 193-194] TITLE 34--EDUCATION CHAPTER VI--OFFICE OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PART 600--INSTITUTIONAL ELIGIBILITY UNDER THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED--Table of Contents Subpart E--Eligibility of Foreign Institutions To Apply To Participate in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Programs Sec. 600.55 Additional criteria for determining whether a foreign graduate medical school is eligible to apply to participate in the FFEL programs. (a) The Secretary considers a foreign graduate medical school to be eligible to apply to participate in the FFEL programs if, in addition to satisfying the criteria in Sec. 600.54 (except the criterion that the institution be public or private nonprofit), the school satisfies all of the following criteria: (1) The school provides, and in the normal course requires its students to complete, a program of clinical and classroom medical instruction of not less that 32 months in length, that is supervised closely by members of the school's faculty and that is provided either-- (i) Outside the United States, in facilities adequately equipped and staffed to afford students comprehensive clinical and classroom medical instruction; or (ii) In the United States, through a training program for foreign medical students that has been approved by all medical licensing boards and evaluating bodies whose views are considered relevant by the Secretary. (2) The school has graduated classes during each of the two twelve- month periods immediately preceding the date the Secretary receives the school's request for an eligibility determination. (3) The school employs for the program described in paragraph (a)(1) of this section only those faculty members whose academic credentials are the equivalent of credentials required of faculty members teaching the same or similar courses at medical schools in the United States. (4)(i) The school has been approved by an accrediting body-- (A) That is legally authorized to evaluate the quality of graduate medical school educational programs and facilities in the country where the school is located; and (B) Whose standards of accreditation of graduate medical schools-- (1) Have been evaluated by the advisory panel of medical experts established by the Secretary; and (2) Have been determined to be comparable to standards of accreditation applied to medical schools in the United States; or (ii) The school is a public or private nonprofit educational institution that satisfies the requirements in Sec. 600.4(a)(5)(i). (5)(i)(A) During the academic year preceding the year for which any of the school's students seeks an FFEL program loan, at least 60 percent of those enrolled as full-time regular students in the school and at least 60 percent of the school's most recent graduating class were persons who did not meet the citizenship and residency criteria contained in section 484(a)(5) of the HEA, 20 U.S.C. 1091(a)(5); and (B) At least 60 percent of the school's students and graduates who took any step of the examinations administered by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) (including the ECFMG English test) in the year preceding the year for which any of the school's students seeks an [[Page 194]] FFEL program loan received passing scores on the exams; or (ii) The school's clinical training program was approved by a State as of January 1, 1992, and is currently approved by that State. (b) In performing the calculation required in paragraph (a)(5)(i)(B) of this section, a foreign graduate medical school shall count as a graduate each person who graduated from the school during the three years preceding the year for which the calculation is performed. (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1082, 1088) [59 FR 22063, Apr. 28, 1994; 59 FR 33681, June 30, 1994, as amended at 63 FR 40623, July 29, 1998; 64 FR 58616, Oct. 29, 1999]