The World Health Organization has recently emphasized a new goal for global health: universal health coverage and the establishment of competent human resources to deliver satisfactory health care services to the entire global population [1]. However, although developing countries are striving to strengthen their human resources capacity regarding health care, they are still experiencing challenges in health professions education [2]. Their efforts to expand the pool of competent health professionals are often hindered by a lack of well-trained faculty members who can provide professional training and education [3]. Therefore, appropriate and effective faculty development programs are crucial for developing countries in order to overcome these challenges [4]. Collaboration among institutions and countries is especially important for countries and institutions with limited resources and financial constraints [5]. In fact, collaboration is becoming prominent in diverse areas of medical education, including learning experiences, teaching activities, and faculty development [6], and the spectrum of collaboration is also broadening from the individual level to the institutional level, and even further to the transnational level [7]. Some leading examples of transnational collaboration for faculty development already exist, such as the educational programs of the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research Institute [8,9]. Mongolia is a developing country in Asia that is facing rapid changes in health care and new emerging needs. The Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences (MNUMS) is the only national university for health professions education and biomedical research, was established at 1942, and has trained more than 90% of the health professionals in the country. It includes the School of Medicine, the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, the School of Dentistry, the School of Nursing, and the School of Public Health, with approximately 800 faculty members and 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Although it has a long history and many faculty members, poor faculty development has been found to be a major obstacle to improvements in health professions education. With the support of the Korea International Cooperation Agency, which is the Korean governmental organization for official development assistance, experts from Mongolia and Korea were able to collaborate to plan, develop, and implement educational programs for faculty development in health professions education in Mongolia.

This study had two aims. The first was to analyze the key features of the transnational collaboration that were incorporated throughout the entire process, from the planning stage to the implementation of the educational programs. The second aim was to evaluate the outcomes of the educational programs to determine whether this transnational collaboration was successful in improving faculty development in a developing country.

This faculty development project aiming to improve health professions education in Mongolia was planned and implemented through the collaboration of experts from Korea and Mongolia. At the beginning of the project, all important stakeholders in faculty development at MNUMS were invited to a strategic planning workshop. Participatory strategic planning is well-known as an effective way to reinforce and maintain the commitment of the participants, especially in development projects in developing countries [12]. After the strategic planning workshop, based on the consensus of the Korean experts and the steering committee, an appreciative inquiry workshop was conducted to collect the ideas of the MNUMS faculty members and to increase their motivation for faculty development. These early steps of transnational collaboration with the goal of encouraging MNUMS faculty members to engage with the project seemed to contribute later to the active participation of the faculty members in the educational programs. This conclusion is also supported by studies in the relevant literature that have emphasized the importance of faculty development in fostering changes in the institutional culture such that teaching scholarship is recognized and rewarded [13,14].

Based on the results of both workshops, a more specific and detailed needs assessment survey was conducted among almost half of the total faculty members. Assessing the needs of the targeted population and the community is the initial step in the process of program development and plays a crucial role in the overall success of the process [15]. The steering committee and the Korean medical education experts agreed to select seven core topics for the educational programs based on the needs assessment survey results. In this process, the personal and professional needs of the faculty members and the institutional needs of MNUMS itself were both considered, as has been strongly recommended in the recent literature on faculty development [16,17]. At the beginning of the program development process, a workshop was held for the Korean experts to share the principles of developing these programs. Moreover, during the development process, continuous discussion took place between the Korean experts and Mongolian faculty members, and the steering committee also provided guidance and feedback to the development team. This continuous transnational collaboration eventually led to the successful development of educational programs to meet the needs of the faculty members and the institutional needs of MNUMS.

According to the evaluations, the participants were quite satisfied with the instructors, content, and materials that were provided, and they felt the programs were very timely and helpful. Although high satisfaction itself does not guarantee learning, it is more likely that satisfied participants will continue to participate in faculty development programs in the future [18]. However, some participants suggested that the programs should be more practical and contextualized to their real-world situations, and that the schedule should have been more flexible and convenient for participation. Thus, the importance of considering the local context and institutional factors and providing institutional support for faculty development should be emphasized [19].

The attitudes and perspectives of the participants significantly improved after the educational programs. Their understanding of and perspectives on the topics that were covered, self-confidence in knowledge and skills, and commitment and willingness for teaching and research improved considerably. Since it is well known that faculty members’ attitudes and misconceptions are major barriers to faculty development [20], these significant attitude changes could be a promising starting point. The only small exception was the topic of organizational culture, for which the participants already exhibited commitment and willingness for culture change even before they participated in the program.

Language barrier was found to be the main obstacle of the program. Even though there were translators for each module who translated English to Mongolian whenever it was needed, the specificity of the contents made it difficult for effective translation. The instructors recommended that we should train the Mongolian faculties as trainers for faculty development to overcome the language barrier and also to sustain the faculty development program. The instructors mentioned that they could not more specify the topic because of the diversity of the participants. For effective faculty development, the topics should be more specific and relevant according to the targeted participants.

This study aimed to analyze the key features of this transnational collaboration and to evaluate the outcomes of the educational programs to determine whether this collaborative effort was successful. Full engagement and active participation of the Mongolian faculty members were noted from the planning stage to the implementation of the programs. Additionally, during the development process, continuous discussion and collaboration took place between the experts from both countries. The participants were quite satisfied with the educational programs, and significant attitude changes among the participants occurred after each program. The faculty development programs that were developed and implemented as part of this transnational collaboration between Mongolia and Korea are expected to contribute to the improvement of health professions education in Mongolia. Further studies are needed to evaluate the long-time outcomes of these educational programs.