First cohort of medical students on European programme move to Germany
The first cohort of University of Southampton Bachelor of Medicine (EU) students began Year 3 of their five year programme in The Kassel School of Medicine (KSM), Kassel, Germany on 31st August.
KSM and the University of Southampton have been involved in a rigorous quality assurance process from the General Medical Council UK (GMC) to enable Years 3-5 of the undergraduate medical programme to be delivered in Germany.
Dr Clare Polack, BM(EU) Programme Leader in the University of Southampton’s Faculty of Medicine, said: “At Southampton, we feel very proud of this innovative programme and excited for the students. However we will miss having them in Southampton as they have had a very positive impact on staff and students.”
A huge amount of work has gone into achieving this by Southampton, since work began on the programme in 2010, in partnership with Gesundheit Nordhessen Holding AG (GNH) in Germany, the parent company of KSM. GNH comprises several acute care hospitals, nursing homes and other health related enterprises. The main GNH hospital is Klinikum Kassel, which is a tertiary care hospital.
For the first two years of the programme the students study in Southampton alongside the 200 or so students on its BM5 and BM6 programmes. The Kassel School of Medicine (KSM) is responsible for coordinating delivery of Years 3-5 of the programme in Germany.
So far, the results show that these students thrive in both the academic and social spheres of University life. The GMC report highlighted that students ‘…were very positive about the programme.’
The latest round of selection onto the BM(EU) programme took place in Southampton in July and a new cohort of students will join the 28 about to start Year 2.
In Kassel the students will be a much smaller group than they are in the UK, but academics at Southampton see that this has a huge advantage.
Dr Polack continues: “We believe medical students learn clinical medicine best by experiencing it. The fact that these students will be able to see lots of patients and be taught by great clinical teachers who know them individually is likely to be a recipe for success.
“We are not complacent though, there is still much to be done and we are working hard to support and develop everyone involved to help deliver our curriculum and a great learning experience for all involved. The GMC will continue to visit Southampton and Kassel every year and hold us all to account.”
The GMC report from last year is available here.