Flinders University will offer school leavers an accelerated pathway into its popular medical course in 2010.
Students in this pathway will be offered a six-year combined Bachelor of Clinical Sciences/Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. There will be 25 places available annually. The Year 12 pathway will complement the established and highly successful graduate-entry pathway.
Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Professor Michael Kidd [pictured], said the new pathway to studying medicine at Flinders meets a long-standing demand for access by Year 12 students to the internationally-recognised Flinders medical course.
“I am delighted that Flinders University is offering 25 of the brightest Year 12 domestic students the opportunity to study medicine at Flinders, via this accelerated pathway,” Professor Kidd said.
“In doing so, we have adopted a different approach to other institutions in considering applications from potential students,” he said.
“A school leaver’s Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER) will contribute 90 per cent to the score that will guide our consideration of applications. We recognise that the Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test has a role to play and we have decided that this test will constitute 10 per cent of the score.
“We anticipate that a TER of 95 or above will be required to be competitive for entry to the Flinders medical course through this new pathway.
“The Flinders School of Medicine has a strong commitment to preparing medical students for work in areas of medical workforce need, including in rural and remote areas. In supporting that goal, and consistent with the University’s participation in strengthening Indigenous health, Flinders proposes allocating five of the available 25 positions from 2011 onwards to Indigenous students.
“The Flinders learning experience can include clinical placements for medical students in the University’s rural and remote health network including our Northern Territory Clinical School and Rural Clinical School based in Darwin, Katherine, Nhulunbuy and Alice Springs, our Centre for Remote Health at Alice Springs and the Flinders University Rural Clinical School based in the Riverland, Hills Mallee Fleurieu, Barossa Valley and Greater Green Triangle regions.”
While details of the new pathway to medical studies at Flinders are subject to approval within the University and by the Australian Medical Council, the pathway will consist of a six-year combined Bachelor of Clinical Sciences with the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (BMBS). Applicants will be able to choose between Clinical Science streams in either of the University’s Bachelor of Medical Science or Bachelor of Health Sciences degrees. Students will be required to make satisfactory progress and complete a compulsory communication skills unit in the first two years of the combined degree in order to progress to the BMBS component.
For further information refer to Undergraduate Medicine at Flinders.