AMSE, Association of Medical Schools in Europe

Three amendments to the Constitution of AMSE were agreed at the AMSE General Assembly held in Zagreb, Croatia, on 6 June 2009. These were:

The definition of Europe (Section 1, point 3)
Eligibility of Medical Schools for membership (Section 4, point 3)
Measures to ensure that all parts of Europe are represented on the Executive Committee (Section 11, paragraph 7)

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL SCHOOLS IN EUROPE (AMSE)

The Association of Medical Schools in Europe (AMSE) was founded in 1979 as AMDE (Association of Medical Deans in Europe) to create a forum for Medical Schools and Faculties in the European Community and other European countries to establish contacts and exchange information. The purpose of the Association is to stimulate and develop co-operation between Medical Schools and Faculties in Europe and to develop their relations with other professional, governmental and non-governmental organisations in education, academic management, medical research and health care. For the purpose of AMSE, "Medical Schools" and "Medical Faculties" and “Medical Universities” are considered to be equivalent.

The Constitution

1 - Name, place and fields of activity

The Association shall be known as the "Association of Medical Schools in Europe (AMSE)"
The Association is for the time being [2009 - 2010] incorporated in the United Kingdom as a Company Limited by Guarantee and promotes its activities throughout Europe. The parent Company Limited by Guarantee was AMSE-MED, registered in England (number 6559004), and the registered address of AMSE-MEDwas Office of the Warden, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Old Medical College Building, Turner Street, London E1 2AD
For the purposes of the Association Europe is defined as the World Health Organisation European Region.
The Association does not propose to establish branches.

2 - Aim

The aims of AMSE (for the time being an incorporated Company Limited by Guarantee) are to promote the activities of, and develop co-operation between, medical schools and faculties in Europe, and to enhance and ensure the quality of their activities. AMSE is concerned primarily with the function and responsibilities of medical schools and faculties, which include the following:

the development of medical schools and faculties;
the developments in medicine, medical science, the social sciences and society and their translation into policies of:

- medical education, including admission to medical school;

- research management in medical schools and faculties;

organisational, academic management and institutional problems facing medical schools and faculties;
the relationship of medical schools and faculties to health service and health-care organisations, and relevant national and international authorities;
the developments in professions allied to medicine and their relations with medical schools and faculties;
the role of medical schools and faculties in post-graduate and continuing medical education;.
the role of medical schools and faculties in research and research training;
any other area of responsibility or function deemed by the Executive Committee to be within the aims and functions of AMSE.

3 - Means for achieving the aims

The aims should be achieved:

Through the annual and other meetings, working groups and electronic and printed material (including a website) provided through membership fees and income from meetings.
Through partnership, collaboration and cooperation with other organisations with related aims and interests. The Executive Committee shall approve such partnerships, collaborations and co-operations.

4 - Membership

There shall be both Full Members and Associate Members, and in each category there shall be individual and collective members.
A medical school that provides a course of instruction leading to a medical degree shall be eligible to apply for Individual Full Membership. If a university has more than one medical school, each medical school shall be eligible for Individual Full Membership.
To be eligible for membership, a medical school shall normally be recognised by the government of the country in which it is based, and shall have been subject to the standard quality assurance and accreditation procedures of that country. Listing of a school in the Avicenna Directories (http://avicenna.ku.dk/) will be evidence that the school is of appropriate standing. Schools teaching only unorthodox, traditional or alternative medicine are not eligible for membership.
A national conference of medical school or medical faculty deans representing the medical schools of that country shall be eligible to apply for Collective Full Membership.
Higher education institutions that are not medical schools shall be eligible to apply for Individual Associate Membership, if they are involved in academic programmes that are related to medicine.
National associations of institutions relevant to medical schools shall be eligible to apply for Collective Associate Membership if recommended by the National Conference of medical school or medical faculty deans representing the medical schools of that country.

5 - Acquisition of Membership

Each medical school and faculty in Europe is eligible for Individual Full Membership and shall be represented normally by the Dean or similar appropriate representative. Any person who is not the Dean or the recognised representative shall require appropriate evidence of authority from the faculty in order to register with AMSE as a member and have the right to vote.
Each national conference of medical school or medical faculty deans representing the medical schools of a country is eligible for Collective Full Membership, and shall be represented normally by the President or Chairman or other appropriate representative with evidence of authority from the national conference.
Individual Associate Members and Collective Associate Members shall be represented in like manner to Individual and Collective Full Members respectively.
The Executive Committee shall approve the applications for membership and maintain a register of members.
On payment of the annual subscription, membership of AMSE is valid for that calendar year.

6 - Termination of Membership

Membership shall terminate with resignation, deletion and exclusion.
Resignation shall be submitted no less than one month before the Annual meeting.
The Executive Committee may delete a member if more than two years in arrears with the payment of the membership fee.
A member may be excluded by the Executive Committee because of a serious violation of rules and/or by dishonourable behaviour. (An appeal against exclusion may be made to the General Assembly. Pending any appeal the exclusion shall be suspended.)

7 - Rights and duties of the Members

The members have the right to attend all the Annual Meetings and to vote in the General Assembly.

The duties of the members are:

to promote the interests AMSE and to refrain from activities prejudicial to the high reputation of AMSE
to observe the constitution and the resolutions of the organs of the Association
to pay the membership fee annually.

8 - The Organs of the Association

The organs of the Association are the General Assembly (9 and 10), the Executive Committee (11 to 13), the Auditors (14) and the Court of Arbitration (16).

9 - The General Assembly

The members of AMSE in good standing (the General Assembly shall be quorate in 10 members) who are attending the annual meeting shall constitute the General Assembly of AMSE.

10 - Duties of the General Assembly

The General Assembly of AMSE shall elect the Officers of the Association, the members of the Executive Committee and the Auditors.

The General Assembly shall discuss those matters submitted by the Executive Committee. The procedure of the General Assembly shall be conducted according to any Standing Orders of the Association.

A special meeting of the General Assembly may be called by the President within six to 12 weeks after receiving a written request from at least one third of the members representative of at least five different countries. An agenda with the subject(s) to be discussed at that special meeting shall accompany the request.

11 - The Officers of the Association and the Executive Committee

The Officers of the Association shall be the President, the General Secretary, and the Treasurer.

The President of AMSE shall serve ex officio as Chairman of the Executive Committee. Notwithstanding the duration of tenure of any membership of the Executive Committee, the President shall serve the full term of 3 years after election to the post of President. The President shall chair the meetings of the General Assembly. The President of AMSE is eligible for re-election for one further term of three years.

The General Secretary of AMSE also known as the Secretary shall also be the Secretary of the Executive Committee. Notwithstanding the duration of tenure of any membership of the Executive Committee, the Secretary shall serve the full term of 3 years after election to the post of Secretary, and is eligible for re-election for one further term of three years.

The Treasurer of AMSE shall also be the Treasurer of the Executive Committee. Notwithstanding the duration of tenure of any membership of the Executive Committee, the Treasurer shall serve the full term of 3 years after election to the post of Treasurer, and is eligible for re-election for one further term of three years.

The General Secretary and Treasurer may be one and the same person.

The Executive Committee shall consist of not less than seven and not more than 10 full members, being representatives of Individual Full Members or Collective Full Members as defined in section 5 above, elected by the body of the General Assembly. The Executive Committee shall be quorate in the presence of five full members.

No election of a member of the Executive Committee shall be valid if, by such election, the Executive Committee has an absolute majority of members from any one of the four Standard Geographical Regions of Europe for statistical use defined by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Secretariat (United Nations publication, Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use, Revision 4, http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49.htm). For the purpose of this calculation, countries lying within the WHO European region but outside Europe, as defined by the aforementioned United Nations publication, Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use, Revision 4, shall be considered as being in the Eastern Geographical Region of Europe.

Each elected member of the Executive Committee shall serve for a period of three years and is eligible for re-election for one further term of three years.

Nominations for election of the officers of the Association may be made only by Individual Full Members or Collective Full Members of AMSE in good standing. Nominations shall require the support of the representatives of two Individual Full Members or Collective Full Members. The Secretary shall be the returning officer. The Secretary shall receive the agreement of the nominee to stand for election.

Nominations for election to membership of the Executive Committee may be made only by Individual Full Members or Collective Full Members of AMSE in good standing. Nominations shall require the support of the representatives of two Individual Full Members or Collective Full Members. The Secretary shall be the returning officer. The Secretary shall receive the agreement of the nominee to stand for election.

12 - Duties of the Executive Committee

In the absence of the Chairman the Secretary shall chair the Executive Committee, and likewise in the absence of the Chairman and the Secretary the Treasurer shall chair the Executive Committee. In the absence of all the officers of the Executive Committee the members of the Executive Committee shall elect a chairman of the meeting from amongst those present.

The Executive Committee shall have the authority to co-opt not more than three additional persons to serve on the committee for such periods as the committee deems necessary. Co-opted members shall not have the right to vote in the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee will manage the affairs of the Association, carry out the policies formulated by the General Assembly and such further duties and functions delegated to it by the General Assembly. The Executive Committee shall recommend to the General Assembly the rates of the annual subscriptions of members in all four classes for adoption.

AMSE shall operate through working groups chaired by a member of the Executive who shall be appointed by the Executive Committee. The non-Executive Committee members of the working groups should be appointed from members of the Association and/or others.

The Association will hold annual and/or other meetings. The dates and topics for these meetings shall be decided by the Executive Committee.

13 - Special Duties of the Officers of the Executive Committee

The President presides over the General Assembly.
The General Secretary shall assist the chairman and maintain the minutes of the General Assembly and the Executive Committee.
The Treasurer (Cashier) is responsible for the regularity of all financial matters.

14 - The auditors

Both of the Auditors will be elected by the General Assembly for a period of two years and may be re-elected for one further period of two years. Legal transactions between the Auditors and the Association must be agreed by the General Assembly to be valid.
The Auditors shall monitor the transactions and the statements of the account(s) and so inform the General Assembly.
The Auditors may normally attend meetings of the Executive Committee.

15 - The Secretary

The Secretary shall maintain an office, which may be in any country in Europe, the reasonable and necessary expenses of which may be met from the resources of the Association, and is responsible for the regularity of transactions instructed by the Executive Committee.

16 - Court of Arbitration

Disputes relating to the Association will be resolved by the Arbitration Court.
The Arbitration Court shall consist of five members. In each dispute two members must be named by each disputant as arbitrator within seven days. They elect with majority of votes the chairman of the Court. At equality of votes the arbitrator will be decided by lot.
The Court makes the arbitration in the presence of all members on a bare majority of votes. It arbitrates to the best of its knowledge and conscience. Its decisions are internally binding.

17 - Dissolution of AMSE

A proposal for the voluntary dissolution of the Association may only be decided after 6 months notice has been given at a General Assembly with a two thirds majority of valid.
The General Assembly shall decide on the liquidation of assets. The property should, as far as it is possible and allowed, pass to an organisation with the same or similar aims.

18 – Adoption of this constitution of AMSE, and changes to the constitution

This constitution was agreed by the Executive Committee of AMSE (as properly constituted by the former constitution of AMSE) at its meeting on 19 January 2008 and was submitted to the AMSE General Assembly on 6 June 2008 for the agreement of the General Assembly.
This constitution may be altered by the General Assembly of the Association with a two thirds majority of those eligible to vote.