Moshe Goldstein looks back on nine years of growth in postgraduate education

In April 2023, Moshe Goldstein stood down as chair of the EFP’s postgraduate-education committee, a post he had held since 2014. He talks to EFP Alumni chair Ed Madeley about the challenges and achievements over these last nine years, during which the number of EFP-accredited postgraduate programmes has more than doubled.

ED MADELEY: You held the role of chair of the EFP postgraduate education committee for nine years. What initially interested you about taking on this position rather than other roles within the EFP?
MOSHE GOLDSTEIN: There were several reasons. Postgraduate education is something I have dedicated a major part of my career to, and I thought I could contribute to the postgraduate-education committee. Also, I had the conviction that the EFP could be a leader in international periodontal education.

EM:When you became chair, there were 11 programmes in 10 countries. There are now 23 in 15, including two outside of Europe. What have been the factors involved in this expansion, and what challenges have you faced in bringing in so many new universities?
MG: In 2014 we had 11 accredited programmes. One programme (Tel Aviv) lost its accredited status a few years ago. Since 2014, 12 more programmes have been accredited. The increase in the number of accredited programmes has happened following two things. First, the continuous mentioning of the possibility of having a programme accredited by the EFP, with all the positive clinical benefits and prestige involved in this. This was one of the things I did at every EFP meeting, whenever participating in congresses, meeting programme directors, and so on.

Second, whenever there has been a first accredited programme in a specific country, the directors of otherprogrammes in that country have wanted the same achievement. The expansion did not just “happen” – it was a proactive policy of the postgraduate-education committee.

EM: Do you see the number of EFP-accredited programmes continuing to grow over the next few years? And where do you expect this growth to take place? Frankfurt University is set to become the first German programme to gain accreditation, so will there be more in Germany? And what about other European countries with no EFP programme at present, such as Austria or Denmark?
MG: More programmes should and most probably will apply for EFP accreditation. We started a process of survey and mentoring possibilities for programmes that would like to meet the EFP standards of accreditation. I believe that under Professor Donos’s leadership this will happen. The “target” programmes are those from all EFP member countries.

The mentoring idea was something we thought about for programmes that have not applied for accreditation, but which might want to. It is a way to provide help to directors that want to prepare their programme for accreditation. It was an idea I had about three years ago when observing that in some countries there is no attempt to accredit programmes although there are postgraduate training centres there. I have to confess that several directors of programmes in countries with EFP member societies contacted me and asked questions, but none of them has so far asked for the proposed mentoring. I hope it will happen.

EM:When considering cases like Hong Kong, what effect do you feel the expansion of the accreditation of programmes outside of countries with EFP members will have on the EFP as a whole in the future? Is there a goal to extend accreditation into more countries that do not yet have an EFP member society? And beyond Europe, which areas offer most scope?
MG: A major strategic goal of the EFP is to be the most prominent factor in international periodontology. Postgraduate education is defi nitely one of the ways to achieve this goal, in addition to the EFP’s Perio Workshops and EuroPerio congresses. I know that some programmes from Latin America have looked at the EFP’s Quality Standards for Postgraduate Education document to use in their universities.

I strongly believe that our education system can be a model for postgraduate training programmes anywhere.