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The structure of Medical Education in Europe: Implementing Bologna – On the way to a European success story?
International Conference hosted by the German Rectors' Conference (HRK)

10 - 11 October 2008, Berlin

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The modular structure at UCD Dublin School of Medicine and Medical Sciences

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  • corresponding author presenting/speaker Geoffrey Chadwick - The UCD Centre for Medical Education, Dublin, Ireland
  • Jason Last - The UCD Centre for Medical Education, Dublin, Ireland

The Structure of Medical Education in Europe: Implementing Bologna – On the way to a European success story?. International Conference hosted by the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK). Berlin, 10.-11.10.2008. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2011. Doc08hrk14

doi: 10.3205/08hrk14, urn:nbn:de:0183-08hrk143

Published: January 13, 2011

© 2011 Chadwick et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Medicine Programme Outline: University College Dublin (UCD) admits 240 students per year to the medical (MBBCh BAO) degree programme. 180 enter a 5-year core undergraduate curriculum. Of these 60 students with a strong sciences background enter the 5-year programme directly and 120 take an additional (foundation) year. In addition, 60 graduate students from various backgrounds enter a 4-year graduate entry curriculum. The last 2 years of both curricula (undergraduate and graduate) are in common.

Modular and Semester-Based Programme: The courses are fully modular and semesterised (see figure 1 [Fig. 1]). Years 1-3 have six modules per semester with five ECTS credits per module (30 credits per semester).Years 4 and 5 have larger modules (120 credits over 2 years). The undergraduate course comprises four stages:

  • Systems 1 (year 1 and year 2 semester 1): a systems based clinical and biomedical curriculum incorporating anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and clinical and behavioural sciences.
  • Systems 2 (year 2 semester 2 and year 3 semester 1): a systems based clinical and biomedical curriculum incorporating pathology, pharmacology, microbiology and clinical sciences.
  • Clinical 1 (year 3 semester 2): an introduction to clinical practice incorporating clinical skills, clinical diagnosis and therapeutics, ENT/Ophthalmology, reproductive/child/psychological medicine.
  • Clinical 2 (years 4 and 5): module courses in medicine, surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics/gynaecology and psychiatry plus clinical and research electives and a professional completion module.

All graduates are required to take an intern year in a combination of medical and surgical specialities prior to full registration with the Irish Medical Council.

Summary: The UCD Medical Curriculum is fully modular and semesterised with an ECTS compliant credit system. Students are encouraged to participate in the Erasmus programme.