New places for medicine students
Education Minister Mary Hanafin said the initiative, which starts next autumn, will provide a second chance of entry to the profession for those who missed out on a place in medicine at undergraduate level due to the high marks required.
It is thought a total of 60 new places will be offered in 2007, growing to an overall intake of 240 students annually after four years.
Ms Hanafin said the Higher Education Authority will formally invite proposals from third-level institutions for the provision of the new programme.
“The new programme is part of overall plans to more than double the number of medical education places available to Irish students. This follows the recommendations of a Working Group on Undergraduate Medical Education, chaired by Professor Patrick Fottrell, earlier this year. The introduction of these new places is already under way in the current academic year, with the provision of an initial 70 additional undergraduate places for Irish and EU students,” she said.
“I was delighted to secure the resources in the 2007 Estimates to continue that progress. A total of €10 million will be available to me next year for medical education reforms. This will enable the introduction of the new graduate programme from next autumn as well as further increases in undergraduate numbers for CAO applicants.”
Graduates with honours bachelor degrees in all disciplines can apply for entry to the four-year programme.
“There have been many disappointed applicants for undergraduate medicine over recent years that have gone on to pursue other undergraduate studies. For those students, the new programme offers a second chance to pursue their first-choice career. Others, who may not have originally considered medicine as anoption, can now make that choice at a more mature age,” she said.
