International Optometric Education: Global Expansion and Transformation

(New deadline to submit papers: June 1, 2016)

Over the past 20 years, the profession of optometry has undergone dramatic global changes: expanding scope of practice, increasing quality assurance expectations, significant diversification of students, and the accelerating impact of information technology. Underpinning these changes has been the critical role of international optometric education in supporting and catalyzing this transformation. The same global forces that are driving the transformation of the profession are also creating challenges and opportunities for optometric educational institutions. Student, faculty, patient and institutional expectations are converging and greater accountability is expected. This includes such areas as clinical competency, professional ethics, interprofessional collaboration and curricular innovation.

This theme issue builds on the work of the ASCO International Optometric Education Committee and International Optometric Educators Special Interest Group (SIG).

Authors are invited to submit scholarly articles that address this theme and underscore innovation and the impact educational institutions are having on their students, the profession and the communities they serve. We encourage scholarly articles that are translational and promote global dissemination.

We are pleased to have Anthony F. Di Stefano, OD, MEd, MPH, Salus University, serve as the Guest Editor of this issue. For more information, please e-mail journal Editor Aurora Denial, OD, FAAO.

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