A wide-ranging review of medical education, which will see an increase in college places and a new two-tier entry system, is to be endorsed by the Cabinet within weeks.
The review will involve the number of places in medical training for Irish and non-EU students doubling to more than 700, while there will also be a new graduate entry programme, running alongside the existing undergraduate system.
This new package of measures is broadly in line with proposals made by both the Hanly report on the health service and an expert group on medical education, chaired by Prof Patrick Fottrell, a former president of NUI Galway.
The joint proposals from Minister for Education Mary Hanafin and Minister for Health Mary Harney were considered by the Cabinet sub-committee on health, chaired by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern earlier this week.
Pressure for a review of medical education has been growing because of the pressure on the health service and the apparently inexorable rise in the CAO points needed.
The increase in the number of places is unlikely to lead to significantly lower CAO points levels for medicine. Ms Hanafin said the CAO requirement would only drop by between five and 10 points even if the number of places available to Irish students doubled. This is because of the large number of students with high points who want to do medicine. More than 1,100 Leaving Cert students achieved 550 points or more this year.
Ms Hanafin also confirmed a new two-tier system with graduate entry. UCD has already announced plans for a four-year postgraduate programme in medicine, beginning next year. She gave no details of where the balance would lie between school-leavers and graduate entry in the new training regime nor would she discuss the possible funding implications for the colleges.
UCD envisages a phased move to a 50-50 balance between school leavers and graduates between now and 2009, pending approval of its plans by the Higher Education Authority.
The new graduate entry system is expected to see students undergo an entry exam, aptitude testing and an interview - before gaining entry. A CAO points threshold of 450 points was proposed in the Fottrell report.
UCD has scheduled its aptitude test for early next year. This is likely to be based on the Australian model - the Graduate Australian Medical Schools' Admission Test. It has a strong scientific component with one section devoted to reasoning powers in biological and physical sciences.
Prof Kathleen Lynch of UCD yesterday expressed concern about moving to aptitude testing. Students, she said, would be buying grinds to prepare for these tests, which was a huge business in itself, and there was an inherent class and social bias in the tests.
