Medical Schools Overseas Changing Admissions
New Zealand 04 February 2003
Selection criteria at the country's two medical
schools are being overhauled, with school leavers being shut out of Auckland
medical school, and Otago introducing tests of non-academic personal qualities.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2238165a7144,00.html
Australia adds schools and new criteria and support at James Cook in northern
Australia
Sunday Times (Johannesburg)
January 26, 2003
Posted to the web January 27, 2003
Cornia Pretorius
Johannesburg
New exam planned as school marks cause confusion
SIX of South Africa's eight medical schools are planning to introduce a
common midyear selection examination for next year's first-year
students because, they say, good matric results no longer determine
success in medical studies.
Other reasons for the examination include:
Differences between the nine provincial matric examinations;
Levelling the playing field for students from different backgrounds and
schooling systems by evaluating their abilities in areas such as
mathematics; and
Changing the racial profile of medical students so that in five years'
time 65% of students admitted to medical schools will be African.
Professor Max Price, dean of the University of the Witwatersrand's
faculty of health sciences, said: "We are no longer sure what the
matric system is telling us."
This year Wits - which had cut its usual first-year intake of 250 by half
to introduce a programme for non-medical graduates to train as
doctors - had to turn away applicants with six and seven distinctions.
Of the 110 students who were offered places, a quarter had seven A's
or more and half had six A's. Three-quarters of the students had an A
average.
"We have never had anything like that before," said Price.
He said it could be the result of a "right shift" in the spread of marks.
This means more matriculants were achieving very high marks
compared to previous years.
In addition, said Price, candidates from certain provinces enter
medical school with top results yet fare worse than those from other
provinces.
Other medical schools confirmed a similar trend. Professor Juzer
Surka, vice-dean of the University of Transkei's faculty of health
sciences, said the quality of students applying for medicine appeared
to have improved.
Professor Thanyani Mariba, dean of the University of Pretoria's faculty
of health sciences, said the improvement in matric results meant that
larger numbers were surpassing the minimum academic requirements
for medicine.
The medical schools will introduce their new entrance exam to
complement their existing selection criteria, which includes a matric
certificate with university endorsement.
"We agree on the principle of a common entry exam, but we also
believe in retaining our own criteria of admissions," said Surka.
The Medical University of South Africa was still discussing the idea, a
spokesman said.
Mariba said that while the matric examination was not necessarily a
good indicator of academic success, at this point it was still the "only
system we have".
He said a common test would also help students, who apply to all
medical schools at great cost, to apply once by writing the test. Those
who passed the test could then be placed at the institution of their
choice.
Professor Ben van Heerden, head of the school of medicine at the
University of Stellenbosch, said: "This admission test provides a
uniform mechanism to help enable comparison of the academic
potential of prospective students from diverse backgrounds and
school systems."
But the Department of Education fears that such a test might
undermine the matric exam.
Nasima Badsha, the department's deputy director-general for higher
education, said the department was aware of the medical faculties'
plan.
"We hope that such an instrument will be used to complement and
strengthen the senior certificate examination," Badsha said.
"We also hope universities will look at ways to best identify students
likely to remain in South Africa after they qualify."
Dr Kamy Chetty, the Department of Health's deputy director-general
for service delivery, said the department did not believe there was a
shortage of doctors.
However, it had to improve the distribution of doctors - which was
skewed towards urban areas - while keeping health professionals in
South Africa.
Studies showed that if recruits came from rural areas they were more
likely to return to their home towns. Chetty said the department
therefore supported a wider range of selection criteria.