Not got the points for medicine? Pack your bag

In the second part of our series looking at medical training, we look at the range of options outside Ireland

THERE IS a huge international market in medical education, which developed in the 1990s, driven mostly by demand from students in the US. The five Irish undergraduate medical schools entered this market, and by 2003-2004, their annual intake of students was 782, of whom 305 (39 per cent) were EU and 477 (61 per cent) were non-EU students paying up to 20,000 for their place.

Given that the number of places available to EU students was only 305 and that this included students from Northern Ireland, there was huge CAO points pressure on the system, and only the real academic high fliers succeeded in securing a place.

Following the publication of Medical Education in Ireland: A New Directionin 2006, more commonly known as the Fottrell Report, the cap on undergraduate medical places for EU students has been raised from 305 to 480, spread across the four universities and the RCSI.

When the Government announced its plans to implement Fottrell in 2006, it was envisaged that when both the undergraduate and graduate entry routes come fully on stream, the annual intake to medicine for EU students will be 720. As of September 8th, the CAO has offered 663 medical places to EU students in the current offer season.

Most of these additional places have been created in the new four-year post-graduate medical stream, particularly in the new graduate medical school in Limerick.

For Irish students taking the Leaving Certificate who want to pursue a career in medicine, and who do not envisage securing the 720-740 points that may be required, once they combine their CAO points score with their HPat score, the option of seeking a postgraduate place is a very attractive one.

Places in postgraduate medicine are awarded solely on the basis of an applicant’s score in the Gamsat assessment test, to those candidates who have secured a 2:2 or above in any honours bachelor’s degree (NQAI Level 8). One of the reasons why there has been a surge in the level of entry points for undergraduate science and biomedical science degrees, among others, over the past two years (UCD science increased from 305 to 435 points in two years), is that these routes are now seen as a real option by those wishing to become doctors. The cost of postgraduate medicine degrees in the Irish colleges is about €25,000, of which the Government will pay about half, leaving the student fee at about €12,800.

For students who are prepared to pursue an undergraduate medical degree outside Ireland, there are a huge variety of options. There are many undergraduate medical schools in the UK, accessible through the UCAS application system.

As in Ireland, they all now require HPat-type assessments, alongside high academic results, which means that in many ways it is as difficult for Irish students to secure places in UK colleges as in Irish ones.

Far more popular in recent years has been the option of studying in the medical schools in eastern European countries, particularly since they became part of the EU, and the schools had their degrees fully accepted and recognised by the Irish Medical Council under the reciprocal arrangements that operate within the EU.

Initially, the two most important destinations for Irish students were the Hungarian and Czech universities of Semmelweis in Budapest and Charles University in Prague. Fees in both these medical schools are about €12,500 per year.

Other than in Budapest and Charles, the largest numbers of Irish students seem to be found in PJSU Košice and the University of Debrecen. In recent years the market has expanded considerably to other eastern European universities in Hungary (Pécs, Debrecen and Szeged), Slovakia (PJSU Košice and Comenius), Czech Republic (Masaryk), Poland (Jagiellonian in Cracow, and the medical faculties in Warsaw, Lodz and Poznan). Annual fees at these universities are from €8,500 upwards.

If you are considering any of these options, two avenues of research are key: visit the university yourself (air fares to central Europe are very reasonable) and get in touch with Irish students who are already there. Ask about dropout rates, the level of spoken English of teaching staff, and the level of student support from administration (sometimes communication between the university and students can be poor). It is also worth checking the quality of on-campus accommodation.

In the past week, a new website has been launched containing comprehensive information on many of these options, learnabroad.ie. The Hungarian medical and veterinary universities are represented in Ireland by veterinary surgeon Timothy O’Leary, who can be contacted at 028-28197 or at studyhungary.hu.

A final option that students might consider is the recently launched Beckett College Pre-Medical Programme, starting this month. In association with Pécs medical school in Hungary, it is offering a repeat Leaving Cert year, with the specific aim of preparing students for the Pécs entry exam next summer. Beckett is then planning to offer years one and two of the Pécs medical degree in Dublin, within Beckett College; the remaining years will be delivered in Pécs. The fees for this pre-medical year are €9,850, with years one and two of the Dublin-based medical degree priced at €15,000.

The developments outlined above, which have hugely increased access to medical education for Irish applicants, are bringing this career option back into the grasp of many students with good overall Leaving Cert results, alongside high points scores in the science subjects. This is, of course, dependent on you having access to the €15,000 per year on average, which you will require to access this particular option.

Series concluded