Medicine (State Examination)
Name of program: Medicine (National Exam)
Degree: State Examination
Length of program: 12 semesters
Program start: winter and summer semesters
Language of programme: German
Orientation events: Orientation events are offered
Admission:
- 1st subject semester: limited admission (application to hochschulstart.de)
- 2nd to 12th subject semester: limited admission (application to the university)
- International applicants (non-EU): limited admission (application to International Student Office)
Program Overview
The Medicine program provides a strong foundation in the science of medicine while at the same time emphasizing practical and patient-oriented aspects of the field. Its goal is to ensure that students receive comprehensive medical, interdisciplinary and methodical training and acquire:
- the practical and psychological skills as well as an intellectual and ethical understanding of medicine;
- the physician’s sense of responsibility to both the individual and the public which is necessary to assist in prevention, diagnosis, therapy and rehabilitation of illness and disability while taking into account the patient’s psychological and social context, scientific progress, the environment and the society;
- the ability and readiness to stay involved in continuing medical education and to work together with fellow physicians as well as members of other health professions.
Program Structure
Preclinical Part
This encompasses the first four semesters of the Medicine program. Courses prepare students for both Part One of the National Medical Licensing Exam and the subsequent clinical part of the program. Teaching occurs in the form of lectures, lab courses, and seminars. The core subjects are those comprising the basic sciences (physics, chemistry, biology) plus the classical disciplines of preclinical medicine (physiology, biochemistry, and anatomy). Additional subjects include medical psychology and sociology and medical terminology. The practical courses “Introduction to Clinical Medicine” and “Introduction to Careers in Medicine” ensure that students receive early exposure to the actual practice of medicine.
Clinical Part
During the next six semesters students are taught both the theoretical and practical fundaments of clinical medicine: history-taking, physical examination, diagnostic investigations, and clinical science (pathology, microbiology, pharmacology, etc.). Knowledge acquired in these courses is then applied systematically and broadened in the specific clinical disciplines (internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, etc.).
In the clinical phase of the Medicine degree course, training takes place at the study locations Göttingen and Wolfsburg. In the third to fifth clinical semester, 30 students move to Wolfsburg. After completion of the fifth clinical semester, training continues at the Göttingen study location. Allocation to one of the locations takes place as part of an internal faculty allocation procedure: further information.
Practical Year
Upon completion of all coursework, students spend one year performing three clinical clerkships of sixteen weeks each in internal medicine, surgery, and an elective discipline. These rotations may be done either at the Clinic of the University of Goettingen, any of its affiliated hospitals, or any foreign academic hospital approved in advance by the medical faculty. Following this, students take the Second Part of the National Medical Licensing Examination.
Teaching
The material is taught in a module system according to the principle of “topic- and organ system-related blocks.” The purpose of this structure is to provide a more accessible path to understanding the interwoven nature of health care and disease management. Information and practical experience are conveyed via lectures, seminars, small group-teaching (problem-oriented learning), ward rounds, bed-side teaching, clinical rotations, simulators, and patients actors.