1. Meeting with the Dean of Medical School, Prof. Franco Quadrifoglio
02. 04. 2003.
a. Organization of the Medical School
There are 4 departments: (1) Dept. of Science and Technology, with 8 Full
Professors, 9 Associated Professors and 9 Researchers; (2) Dept. of Pathology,
Clinical and Experimental Medicine, with 9 Full Professors, 8 Associated
Professors and 10 researchers; (3) Dept. of Surgical Sciences, with 7 Full
Professors, 12 Associated Professors and 8 Researchers; (4) Dept. of Medical
and Morphological Research, with 7 Full Professors, 6 Associated Professors
and 12 Researchers.
The Departments are responsible for Research and PhD studies. The
Departments have their Directors. The Departments prepare research proposals
and PhD programs, and submit them to University Senate for approval.
The Medical School as a whole is responsible for teaching process. It has
following positions and/or bodies:
- The Dean
- The Vice Dean
- The Council for Curriculum
- The Didactic Commission
The Didactic Commission is composed of 6 coordinators for 6 study years and 6
students’ representatives (one from each year of the study). This Commission
do the actual organization of the teaching (make plans, schedules, propose
engagement of professors from other Universities), prepare proposals for
changes of the curriculum. Definitive decisions on these matters are left to The
Council for Curriculum, which is composed of all Full and Associated Professors,
Researchers’ representatives and students’ representatives (4 of them).
The coordinators for each year of the study are responsible for the work of
coordinators for each of the courses in that year.
There are several educational profiles for which the Medical School
prepares the students. The main one is M.D. profile, but there are Nursing and
Laboratory Technicians profiles, too.
b. Postgraduate studies
Specialist studies (specializations) are run by coordinators (one for each type of
specialization), who is responsible for the program. The Ministries of Health and
Education determine the number of specializations, and there is nationwide
competition for the specializations. The specialist students are paid by the
University.
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Master courses last only 1 year, and the coordinator of a course become the
professor who proposed it. The courses are paid for by the students.
PhD courses are two: in Biomedical Science and in Clinical Science and
Technology. The PhD students are paid by the University.
c. Enrollment of the students
The enrollment in MD studies is limited by the Decision of Ministry for Education.
It is maximum 80 students per year; the rule is one enrolled student per 3
available clinical beds.
All students pay the fee fixed by the Ministry of Education. It is 750 euros per
year.
d. Allocation of the credits
The value of 1 credit is 25h of average student’s work; only half of it is lectures
and practical.
One year has about 60 credits, and they are allocated in the following way:
- 198 credits are allocated according to the law
- 162 credits are allocated by the Faculty itself, but 60 have to be
practical.
e. The curriculum is integrated, and consists of Modules (courses). Each module
has its coordinator, as well as the groups of modules.
f. The academic staff election
The University publish the call, so anyone can apply. The commissions are
formed nationwide for each scientific area by voting of all professors in that area.
There are 5 members of each commission, and only one is from the University
who gave the call. The report of a commission goes to the University Senate who
makes final decision.
Full Professors, Associated Professors and Researchers are elected for
permanent positions for certain area. However, after 3 years there is reevaluation
of his or her scientific and teaching performance. In practice, there are no
examples of academic staff members who lost their position.
g. The University’s bodies
- University Senate: 10 Deans, Rector, Vice Rectors, 10 professors
representing the groups of scientific areas. The Senate decides on academic
staff elections, curricular changes, allocation of financial resources and other
strategic matters.
- Board of Directors: 4 elected students, 4 elected Full Professors, 4
elected Associated Professors, 4 elected Researchers, 4 students
representatives, 5 representatives of local community, 4 representatives of
administrative staff, the Rector and Vice Rectors.
- The Rector and Vice Rectors
- The Executive Director
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2. Meeting with Prof. Alfred Tenore, Vice Dean of Medical Education
03. 04. 2003.
All “laurea” in Italian Universities need 300 credits, but the laurea in
Medicine needs additional 60 credits which are devoted to the so called
“Professionalizing activity” (Activita formativa profesionalizante). These 60 credits
should be used for teaching “holistic” approach to the students, so they can
integrate all of their knowledge about medicine and apply it on the patient as a
whole. These 60 credits should be allocated to the last year of studies, but in
Udine Medical School they were split to the 3 last years, as practical.
Principal problem with the credits allocation is that it was done without
taking into account actual student’s work. E.g., pediatric course has 2.5 credits,
while biophysics course at second year bears even 5.7 credits!
From Dec 2003 – National exam will take place for all graduates, in order
to confirm their competence. It is basis for obtaining license for practice, and it
has 2 parts: clinical evaluation and written examination (3 month clinical
evaluation stage: 1 month medical dept., 1month surgical dept. and 1 mo with
general practitioner. At the end of each month evaluation by the mentors
(capacity and attitude). The written examination – morning basic sciences,
afternoon clinical sciences). National commission gives the criteria for
assessment of capacity and attitude.
An analysis of Prof. Tenore: 50% of Med Schools in European Union – gives last
year as clerkship
The allocation of credits according to the law:
Attivita formative di base 30 Cr
Attivita Formative carracterizzanti 90Cr
Attivita formative affini o integrative (storia de medicina, statistics, informatics,
ethics, communication...) 30 Cr
Choice by students 15Cr
Per la Prova finale 15 Cr,
Altre 18 Cr
Faculty’s choice 102 Cr
There are no classical semesters, but students have 3 periods of teaching
with 2 pauses. The first period starts in the beginning of october, and ends before
the Christmas; the second starts with exam period from 6th to 13th of January,
and lasts till 21st of april; the third starts with exam period from 21st to 28th of
April, and lasts until the end of the May.
There are 5 times per year when students can pass the exams: January,
April, June, September and October.
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The Medical School in Udine does not issue the Diploma Supplement.
3. Meeting with Prof. Carlo Porro, Neurophysiologist, the Coordinator of the
second year of the studies
03. 04. 2003.
The students were originally not allowed to proceed to the next year of the
studies if they did not pass all of the exams, but now they can transfer up to 2
exams for a limited period of time.
The way of examination of students is left completely to the coordinator of
each course. Some of the exams are written, but majority are oral examination.
In preparation of the written exams the Theory of tests is not used, so the
passing threshold is decided arbitrarily.
The oral examinations are held mostly in front of the commission which is
composed of all who gave lectures to that course. Only for the courses which are
held by one person, the oral examination is done in front of that person
(professor).
The transfer of students between the Medical Schools in Italy is very
difficult, because the programs and allocation of credits differ too much.
Sometimes it takes place, but only after additional exams or practical. There is no
functional Transcript of records document or Learning Agreement.
4. Meeting with Prof. Francesco Curcio, the Pathologist, the Coordinator of
the third year of the studies
04. 04. 2003.
The way of examination of the students is similar to the ways used in the
second year.
The transfer of students and transcript of records are practically not done
in the course for laura in Medicine and Surgery.
There is an internal agreement in the Medical School that each member of
the academic staff should have up to 60 hours of lessons for a school year. If
anyone has more than that, he will be paid for overtime work. Since all
professors give also lectures for diploma courses, they are paid separately for
these lectures. Therefore, each professor tries to have as much as possible
lessons, transforming almost all available 25 hours per credit in lectures, which
makes no sense!
There are different views among the academic staff on what should be the
graduated student: general practitioner at once, or only after additional internship
or specialization? Therefore, the programs are not adequately tailored.
Preclinical staff tend to put too much effort on students for basic sciences, and
the knowledge they acquire is not functional lately at the 5th and 6th year.
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The problem Based Learning is used only scarcely, fl little segments of the
courses. The reason is lack of the academic staff.
The Prof. Curcio suggests engagement of students from 6 th year as tutors
for the students in the first year.
5. Meeting with Prof Chiara Ziuani, coordinator of the 4th year
07. 04. 2003.
The credits are too little in number for the particular subjects. E.G. for
gastroenterology there is no space for practicals.
One of the problems is that the Medical School does not have all necessary
specialist wards for practical. E.g., infectious diseases and gastroenterology
wards are missing
Prof. Ziuani believes that integrated curriculum is not adequate, because the
repetition takes place. Besides, students are not in position to integrate the
knowledge they receive. Therefore, when they obtain the laurea, they are not
able to work in practice.
Exams are partly multiple choice tests and partly oral examinations.
There is no structured clinical examination.
For radiology there are not yet strict criteria for promotion and election of the
academic staff.
6. Meeting with Prof. Massimo Baraldo, the Coordinator of 5th year
08. 04. 2003.
Significant problem in running of the integrated course is duplication of lessons.
The groups for practical lessons are with 12-15 students at most.
The maximum number of lessons for students is 25 per week.
The majority of examinations are oral, mostly one person is examining. The
average passing rate at exam of clinical pharmacology is 60%.
The only recommended book is that of the professor.
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The exams of pathological anatomy and pharmacology are the most difficult to
pass.
Pharmacology has 9 credits, 4 for basic and 5 for clinical.
There are no fixed rules for promotions in the field of pharmacology. Each
commission makes its own rules.
They have specialization in clinical pharmacology.....4 years.
7. Meeting with Prof Mara Pugnale, the Director of Finance of University of Udine
10. 04. 2003.
The income:
From Ministry of Education ..........60%
Ministry of Science (projects).......1%
Students fee......10%
Region................25%
Private companies (projects)..............3%
Departments can have their own accounts, but only to receive money for
research.
150.000.000 euros total annual budget.
500 employees
Tax to the state they have to pay back:
Around 10%
They pay 50% for the tax from the salaries.
They have cont plan
Financial plan is not necessary.
8. Padova, School of Medicine, University of Padova
14. 04. 2003.
Meeting with Prof. Paola Arslan, responsible for Erasmus program at School of
Medicine, University of Padova
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Erasmus program is already for 5-6 years at this University. The experiences are
good, and generally students do not have problems with recognition of their work
at host University. The basis of the program is mutual trust of the academic staff
in the two Universities.
The steps of the students’ exchange:
1. Bilateral Agreement between the two Universities which regulate the
exchange, signed by the two Rectors, and appointing contact persons.
2. Publication of a list of available positions for exchange
3. Application of a student for exchange
4. Preparation of the learning agreement
5. Signing of the learning agreement by both sides
6. Acceptance of a student
EC pays 140 Euros monthly for each student included in the exchange.
She thinks that still there are not enough students in the exchange process.
9. Meeting with Dr Stefano del Torso, primary care pediatrician in Padova,
working for the NHS. He is also the Italian representative in the European
Commission of Specialists in Pediatrics (CESP)
14. 04. 2003., Padova
Italy is the only country in EC with specialist pediatric care, from 1978. There are
7155 pediatricians, out of 47000 physicians in Italy.
It is about 10.000 children per pediatrician, while European average is about 50100.000 children per pediatrician. All children from birth up to the 6 years of age
are cared for by a pediatrician. For older children both GPs and pediatricians can
take care of.
The services are mostly free of charge.
The specialization in pediatrics lasts for 5 years. The first 3 years are “common
trunk”, and they are\organized as follows:
1. year: rotations, 2 months at each of the following departments: general
pediatrics, acute care, gastroenterology, bronchopneumology, ambulatory
practice, ophtalmology, alergology.
2. year: rotations at following departments: cardiology, nephrology, metabolic
disease, other
3. year: rotations: neonatal intensive care 3 months, normal newborns 3
months, intensive care, endocrinology, hematology
During the first 3 years there are lectures every week, one day.
The 4th and 5th years are “specialized pathway”, so there are several options the
students can choose.
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4. year: 6 months of emergency pediatrics, then htere are 13 options:
endocrinology, neonatology, general practice, cardiology, neurology,
nephrology, alergology, infectious diseases.
5. year: all rounds.
CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION (CME) in Italy.
In Italy physicians have to obtain 50 credits per year, and 1 credit is
approximately 1 hour of work. There are many providers of CME in the Italy,
including Universities, large hospitals, associations, etc. Each program has to be
accredited at the Ministry of health. In order to be accredited, a program has to
have following characteristics:
- surway of teaching needs
- pre test
- post test
- evaluation by listeners
The application for accreditation by the Ministry of Health has to be done 3
months in advance.
Addess of Ministry of health for CME: www.ecm.sanita.it
10. Meeting with Prof. Maila D’Aronco, the Vice Rector of the University of
Udine, CRIN office
15. 04. 2003.
The Vice Rector is willing to initiate collaboration between University of Udine
and University of Kragujevac, by making and signing bilateral agreement. Then
we could move forward towards the mutual recognition of the diplomas (for the
Medical Schools).
Also there is possibility to make agreements between the two Medical Schools.
11. Meeting with Prof. Saverio Ambesi-Impiombato, the Coordinator of the
Socrates Program
11. 04. 2003.
Prof. Ambesi said that in the beginning of the Erasmus program only a few
students were interested in exchange. However, after the first ones have
returned, they shared their experience, and now a lot of students want to
participate.
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The basis for the exchange is the mutual trust between the Universities.
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