Studying medicine in Europe

Apart from Malta, none of these programmes seem to be taught in English

Y r ppl complaining about learning languages? if u want to practice and have patients, naturally u should be able to communicate with them.

The thing is, Medicine is all about communication. I know people say they learn the language of the country they are studying in, but the reality is, because of the fine precision of communication required in Medicine, if you're not a native speaker of that language, you will miss out hugely in the training process during clinical years. I personally would strongly advise against anybody studying in a country whose language is not a language that they are a native speaker of.

The thing is, Medicine is all about communication. I know people say they learn the language of the country they are studying in, but the reality is, because of the fine precision of communication required in Medicine, if you're not a native speaker of that language, you will miss out hugely in the training process during clinical years. I personally would strongly advise against anybody studying in a country whose language is not a language that they are a native speaker of.

This is presuming the medical student doesn't get very competent at the language. Though I might be being overly optimistic about other people's potential for language-learning due to being an ex-BA Modern Languages myself.

You need absolute fluency to gain meaningful experience from your clinical years.

well many people dont have the luxury of being accepted so easily into their own country , eg UK / Scandinavia .

I somewhat agree with u Rat , but learning a language is not all that bad either.The clinical years start (here atleast) after the 3rd year. by then ur taught a good level of the language by then.

ur gaining a new language which is always a bonus, and u get to chase ur dreams , for me atleast

I know, that's kinda why I said if you are prepared to learn another language then they are decent options. I didn't say they were English-taught, just that they were cheap. If you want an English-taught degree in Europe, then it's either Malta (the cheapest), Ireland (~€3000/year) or the other private institutions in Europe (€9000-14000/year)

Ive applied several times to Medicine in the UK , just a single interview over 3 year application.

With huge frustration and a degree later , im currently doing Medicine in Hungary.
The course is more theoretical based , with tough oral exams.
Entrance procedure is quite simple , and account for mass numbers in first year. with about a 40% fail rate.

Nonetheless im still doing what ive always wanted , study medicine.

Y r ppl complaining about learning languages? if u want to practice and have patients, naturally u should be able to communicate with them.

Medicine is the same worldwide , doesnt matter where u do it. the difference is finding a Uni listed with the GMC , to prevent PLAB exams. but still , ppl do the PLAB and succeed.

if uve got any queries , dont hesitate.

I fully-agree with you. If you really want to study medicine, there's generally always a way, provided you aren't tied down with other commitments, and you have the aptitude and motivation. It just depends on how prepared you are to try to get onto an accredited course e.g. practising in another country.

Most unis in the EU/EEA have a GMC accredited course, particularly in the Benelux countries, Scandinavia, Western Europe and Malta (in fact on graduating they have an interchangeable foundation programme with the UK to the point that a Malta-trained student or UK-trained student can go to either place for FY1 and FY2 (your junior doctor years), and not having their training pathway affected. Currently, it is preferred that all new graduates from a GMC-accredited uni in Europe apply for their graduate job in the UK in order to obtain quickly obtain the full GMC licence after one year, but obviously there are exceptions).

Ironically, it's some of the English-speaking private institutions that tend to problems with GMC-accreditation as many of their courses are geared towards. As a result, you need further guidance from the GMC and they'll advise you further on the validity of a qualification: As a general rule (although this isn't full-proof), if an establishment is offering an American style MD as opposed to the native diploma, MD, degree or licences offered in that country, I would worry and ask questions. e.g. if you trained in Poland, you need a "Diplomă de licenţă de doctor medic" as an MD may very be rejected. http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/registration_applications/acceptable_primary_medical_qualification.asp

It has happened before, people have been required to sit the PLAB examination (which is hard) in order to practice here and in years gone past the pass rate has been as low as ~20% for some of the papers.

Beware as there are also private medicals schools in the UK that neither have GMC-accreditation nor is their degree recognized and you would not be given a GMC licence even if you sat the PLAB exams and aced them - http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/registration_applications/private_UK_based_medical_colleges.asp


This website has a database all internationally recognised medical institutions (although not necessarily GMC-accredited - http://avicenna.ku.dk/database/medicine/

These websites have a list of European medical schools (Last Updated 2006) - http://www.iime.org/database/europe/index.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_schools_in_Europe

well the reality is , students do graduate from eastern eu , and they do get accepted into the GMC.

Part of the clinical courses can actually be taken in ur country of choice , i dont see the big fiasco.

must be personal exp.

Just because you really want something, doesn't mean you should be allowed to do it

The point I was getting at, is if you do meet such criteria, don't limit your options to studying in the UK, or in English. Medicine is a universal vocation that can be learnt anywhere, where there is an adequate teaching structures such as the universities already mentioned.

Rule number one, if you're going to quote someone, don't partially quote someone so that's what's being said is taken out of context!

I said, and I quote in full "If you really want to study medicine, there's generally always a way, provided you aren't tied down with other commitments, and you have the aptitude and motivation."

If you have the aptitude, the motivation and a good personality then you are at least a good prospective candidate.

The admission's tutor at whatever medical school will make that judgment as to whether you make the grade or not. The point I was getting at, is if you do meet such criteria, don't limit your options to studying in the UK, or in English.

Medicine is a universal vocation that can be learnt anywhere, where there is an adequate teaching structures such as the universities already mentioned.

Quite! We seem to have a fear of/disdain for every other country's education systems here. Not only are you still going to be trained to the same high standard and cover exactly the same material at most places, at many places the courses are arranged just like over here, with differing (but very much present) amounts of PBL, dissection room time, lectures.

For example I believe at Copenhagen and Aalborg in Denmark the pre-clin years' teaching is arranged into systems rather than anatomy/physiology/etc. Which is something I think I would far prefer to learning all of anatomy and then all of physiology and so on.

I'm thinking of applying to Prague, Semmelweis in Hungary and maybe even Italy. PM me if you wanna know more about the application procedure. I have a friend at Semmelweis but it'd be great to chat to someone else who's applying too

Point is, I've found British graduates of Eastern European medicals schools to be totally unprepared for being a doctor in the UK, so I don't think they get the same high quality experience as they would in the UK, or at least in a country where they are fluent in that county's language.