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The Reformed Undergraduate Study Program

GOALS AND MAIN FEATURES OF THE NEW UNDERGRADUATE STUDY PROGRAM OF THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE OF AUTH

 
The new undergraduate study program (NUSP), which was unanimously approved by the Assembly of the School of Medicine and the Senate of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, will be implemented from the academic year 2019-2020.  Students who are already studying, will follow the old Study Program until the end of their studies.
 
The philosophy of the NUSP places the people who constitute the School of Medicine on top of the new proposal.  The main goals are to liberate and develop people’s creativity and transform the School into a structure where students’ and teachers’ intelligence and talents will be expressed.  The main target is to lead our students from their current status to specific future goals and, furthermore, to help them reach even greater achievements, which they might not even have dreamt they could reach.   
 
More specifically, the objectives of the NUSP are:
  1. A new academic environment in order to create:

    1. the best student
    2. the best teacher
    3. the best member of the Special Teaching Fellow (STF) and Special Technical Personnel (STP)
    4. the best administrator employee.
       
  2. To increase the interaction between student and teacher.
     
  3. The development and cultivation of new ideas, adapted to the characteristics of modern times.
     
  4. To change conditions in order to give students and teachers:

    1. a different sense of possibilities
    2. a different set of expectations
    3. a wider range of opportunities
    4. The above will give everyone the opportunity to be creative and innovate in their field.
       
  5. To create educational conditions aiming to excite the curiosity, individuality and creativity of students.  If the teacher lights the spark of the student’s curiosity, then the latter, very often, becomes capable of learning without further help.

     

  6. Teaching is a creative process.  When properly designed, it is not just an administration system.  The teacher does not just convey assimilated information.  At the same time he guides, provokes and tries to awaken consciousness.
     
  7. The creation of a new flexible exam system, where not only one grade will dominate.
     
  8. The establishment of trainers’ training.
     

Key features of the new Undergraduate Study Program are:

  1. Each student, from the very first day of their enrollment in the School of Medicine will have their own academic advisor, who will guide them throughout their studies.  All faculty members will be academic advisors.
     
  2. One Credit Unit (CU, European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, ECTS) corresponds to 28 hours of workload.
     
  3. Students, in order to complete their studies, must successfully attend and be tested on 76 obligatory courses with a total of 350 ECTS (69 courses up to the 10th semester and 7 clinical exercises in the 11th and 12th semesters) and 5 elective courses with a total of 10 ECTS.
     
  4. Semester duration: 15 weeks.
     
  5. There will be 3 cycles of courses:

    1. pre-clinical (1-4 semesters)
    2. clinical (5-10 semesters)
    3. clinical practice (11-12 semesters).
       
  6. The attendance of the 2nd and 3rd training cycle requires the full attendance of all courses and the successful examination of 2/3 of the total number of ECTS of the previous cycle.
     
  7. If a student transfers 1/3 of the ECTS of the first training cycle to the second, in order to attend the 3rd training cycle of studies, he must have passed the 1/3 of the ECTS of the first cycle.  The 1/3 of the ECTS of the second training cycle can be transferred to the third training cycle.
     
  8. Courses can be taught:

    1. a. the traditional way (in the classroom) 
    2. b. in electronic form
  9. Organizing online courses has the following advantages:

    1. Each topic is taught by the most specialist professor in the field.
    2. The responsibility of the professor in the organization of his lesson is increased because posting online (code-watching) also involves public check.
    3. New knowledge on the subject being taught, e.g.  new guidelines instructions are integrated directly into the e-course.
       
  10. The time of classic teaching in the classrooms, with the teacher’s monologue usually dominating, is reduced, while the time for discussing interesting patient cases, critically approaching a symptom or clinical or laboratory findings either in patients rooms or in small classrooms in limited groups of students, is increased.
     
  11. Students have the time to perform, in small groups, various tasks under the supervision of their professor, which will be presented, analyzed and criticized in larger groups of students and professors.
     
  12. The aim of the above activities is to make the most effective use of the talents of both students and professors, without spending effort on imparting the knowledge which each student could find on the mobile phone, anyway.
     
  13. E-courses can be carried out in a variety of ways, chosen by professors. Two suggested forms are:

    1. the theoretical development of a topic,
    2. presenting an interesting patient case (8-10 min) and then quoting 6-8 multiple choice questions, analyzing the student's correct or incorrect answer.  In order for the student to proceed to the next question, he must have answered the previous one correctly.
  14. Clinical lessons will be taught using the system of vertical teaching, that is, some sections of the core lessons will be taught alongside the corresponding clinical course.  For example, in the 7th semester, in addition to the Cardiology course, elements of Systemic Pharmacology, Pathology, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Biopathology, which are directly related to the circulatory system, will be taught in a few hours. The aim is to enable the student, while assimilating the clinical course, to renew their knowledge in the core subjects.  The exams in the clinical courses will be completely separate from the exams in the basic courses.
     
  15. In the first 4 semesters, students will be taught basic clinical skills in a simulation environment.
     
  16. In semesters 5-12, clinical skills will be taught by clinical professors.  All clinical courses will be followed by logbooks detailing the clinical skills that students will be required to complete; otherwise, they will not participate in the final examination of the course.
     
  17. The student is required to attend and pass 5 elective courses in accordance with the curriculum.  These will be distributed in the 1st and 2nd cycle of studies.

    1. in the 1st course they may choose 2 courses from a pool of 18 courses,
    2. in the 2nd cycle they may choose 3 courses from a pool of 35 courses.
  18. The elective courses will be evaluated every three years.  Successful attendance and examination by at least five students will be a prerequisite for continuing teaching an elective course.
     
  19. Students should be actively involved in teaching by:

    1. presenting interesting cases of patients 
    2. analysis of theoretical issues 
    3. presentation of articles from the medical literature 
    4. writing and presenting tasks assigned to them by the faculty members on specific topics.
       

The above ensure and promote the interaction of students and professors.
 

  1. The exams will be conducted:

    1. in the traditional way
    2. by electronic means.  Advantages are the immediate extraction of grades at the end of the exam and the great time saving of teachers who will invest their energy on teaching interaction with students, which is also the main focus of the new undergraduate program.
       
  2. One and only grade should be avoided when examining each course.  It is suggested that the final grade be derived from the average of:

    1. the degree of progress that students will have in the course during the semester (10-20%), 
    2. the grade from a short task conducted under the guidance of the faculty members of the course (30-40%), 
    3. the grade of the final examination (40-50%).
       
  3. Exam period: 3 weeks.
     
  4. Exams are not allowed during the semesters. They will take place exclusively on the dates specified.
 
 
 

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