The undergraduate medical education programme has a scope of 360 ECTS. In the ¿Medisin 2015¿ study plan each admission cohort is split into an A-cohort and a B-cohort at the start of the 4th year of study. The B-cohort has a free term after the third year.
Nominal length of the study is 6 years for the A-cohort and 6,5 years for the B-cohort.
The medical programme at the University of Bergen will qualify the candidates for authorization as a medical doctor in Norway, and entry-level positions within all medical specialties. Upon completion, the newly educated doctors should also be able to work within research, dissemination and health management.
During the course of the programme the students will aqquire a sound professional and updated knowledge base, and academic mindset, as a foundation for professional work, knowledge management, critical assessment of sources and lifelong learning.
Upon completion of the programme, the students will be able to diagnose and treat common illnesses. They will be able to handle acute medical conditions and injuries. They can take medical histories and perform clinical examinations and make differential-diagnostic assessments in a sound manner, and possess knowledge of further investigations and treatment of less common illnesses. They will be competent with regards to tutoring patients and next of kin, teaching, health promotion and cross-disciplinary cooperation in all branches of the health service.
During the course of their education the students will learn to place the patients in the center of attention, and meet patients and next of kin with empathy and respect. The students will therefore be trained in good communication with patients, next of kin and other health personell. They will be trained to make ethical considerations regarding treatment strategies, priorities and the use of medical knowledge.
The education will promote a wholesome understanding of health and illness and emphasise the most common health problems. The students will acquire insight into the risk factors of disease and experience with preventive measures on an individual and societal level. They will acquire insight into the national and global cost of disease and injury, as well as differences in health, both within and between countries.
The study will emphasise ethics, patient safety and human rights. The students will have knowledge of the organisation of the Norwegian healthservice, priniciples of health economics and quality improvement in the health sector.
The Medical Student Research Programme (Forskerlinjen) is a special offer for a select group of medical students (up to 10 %) who has an interest in medical research and is aiming for a future career in research. The students in Medical Student Research Programme undertake the medical programme in a normal manner. The added condition is that these students receive organized training in research, which may be the start of a doctoral thesis. Students who choose the Medical Student Research Programme have a nominal lenght of study corresponding to 7 years for A-cohort and 7,5 years for the B-cohort.
Knowledge
After completing the programme, the candidates should be capable of:
Practical abilities/skills
After completing the programme, the candidates should be capable of:
General competence
After completing the programme, the candidates should be capable of:
Demonstrating the ability to reflect on their own behaviour and learning, and taking responsibility for their own further and continuing education in their professional careers.
All courses are mandatory and must be completed in the determined order. It is not possible to change the education plan or the order of exams without faculty approval in advance. Most courses in the programme have mandatory teaching.
Course list:
The courses must be completed in a determined sequence. It is not possible to change the education plan or the sequence of courses without faculty approval in advance. Please consult the supplementary rules to § 2-2 (2), § 7-3 (2) and § 8-2 (3) in the University of Bergen¿s bylaws on studies.
Examen Philosophicum is mandatory, but is exempt from the the requirement of sequence. EXPHIL must be passed at the latest before the student starts the 4th year of study.
If a student lacks a passing result in a subject after the regular exam and the associated continuation exam, the student will be moved down to the class below. This also applies if the student has valid absences for one or both of the exams
The Cand. Med.-programme utilises a variety of teaching methods which stimulate active learning; lectures, team-based learning, laboratory excercises, seminars, pratical excersises, professional groups, clinical groupwork and other clinical teaching. The use of mandatory teaching is quite extensive, partly given as plenary teaching and partly as group-based teaching.
Hospitals, doctor's offices, emergency services, health centers, and nursing homes are included as fixed teaching arenas for clinical rotations and practical placements for medical students from early in their studies. Placements in cooperating hospitals in Stavanger, Førde or Haugesund is part of the mandatory teaching schedule for the 4th-6th years, and the faculty offers financial support for travel and accomodations.
During the first two years of the programme the main emphasis is on fundamental knowledge about the human body. The first year includes extensive joint tuition for students of medicine, nutrition, and dentistry in the subjects Chemistry, Biochemistry, Cellular biology, Cellular Physiology and Molecular Biology (Basics in Biomedicine). In addition, students study Medical Nomenclature (Latin) and Medical Statistics, attend a series of clinical seminars, study Medical Ethics and Philosophy of Science. The students take a course in Macro Anatomy during the last six weeks of their first year. The second year of the programme deals with the structures and functions of the body and includes courses in Neurobiology, Anatomy, Organ Biochemistry and Physiology.
Following completion of the first part of the programme the class of students is divided in two groups; one group continues straight to the clinical unit of the programme, and the second half takes an 'elective semester'.
During the elective semester, students can go on an exchange period abroad, study other subjects or take a break from studying.
In the second part of the programme, students learn practical medical work while also receiving theoretical tuition. Clinical instruction emphasises patient-centred teaching in small groups. In addition to Haukeland University Hospital and Haraldsplass Deaconess Hospital in Bergen, some of the clinical tuition will take place at the hospitals in Førde, Haugesund and Stavanger, and in their district psychiatric centres (DPS). During the last year of studies, students have a four-week placement with a GP. They must also write a special assignment by the end of the fifth year of studies. The purpose of this assignment is to give students an opportunity during the medical degree programme to demonstrate that they master scientific thinking and methods and that they can make use of data and literature searches in the medical field, as well as showing that they can express themselves in writing.
To ensure that the students have the required knowledge, skills and general competence, various forms of assessment are conducted throughout the course of study:
The medical education programme is continuously evaluated according to the guidelines of quality assurance at the University of Bergen.
Course and programme evaluations are available at