Minutes of the LPP – Erasmus session

The session dealing with the organization of education of students in the frame of the LLP – Erasmus session took place on January 12, 2007.
 
Participating members:
Dean: doc. MUDr. Ondřej Hrušák, Ph.D.
Vice-deans: prof. MUDr. Martin Vízek, CSc. and doc. MUDr. Petr Zoban, CSc.
Heads of departments: prof. MUDr. Jiří Hoch, CSc., prof. MUDr. Jan Lebl, CSc., doc. MUDr. Milan Kvapil, CSc., MBA and doc. MUDr. Ivan Kawaciuk, CSc.
The Erasmus coordinator: as. MUDr. Rudolf Černý, CSc.
The Students Department official: Jana Ocelková, DiS.
Excused: doc. MUDr. Lukáš Rob, CSc.
 
The importance of the programme
The opportunity to get for high quality education abroad for Czech students is one of priorities of the Faculty management. In this sense, the EU programme LLP – Erasmus plays a decisive role, as it facilitates foreign study stays for almost thirty of our students. It is however a fully reciprocal activity and the students of partner faculties have to get the comparable chance to study at our faculty. The objective of the session was to avoid problems in education of visiting students as well as in delegation of our students.
 
The students in the LLP – Erasmus programme usually are not able to communicate with the patients
This problem cannot always be solved by mere presence of a teacher during a practical training, because it is hardly manageable from the viewpoint of organization. At some departments it is the international students of our faculty who help to get over the language barrier. In spite of this fact, some teachers, consider this barrier serious enough not to recognize the study stay in the full extent and therefore to sign a standard examination. They suggest issuing a „certificate“ instead.
This ‘certificate’ will be accompanied with a detailed curriculum of the subject, which will allow the home university of the student to decide whether the extent and the structure of the subject are relevant.
 
According to the information of the Faculty management as well as the head of the Erasmus programme, there did not occur any substantial objections at other faculties of Charles University as for the quality of study stays in relation to language barriers.
MUDr. Černý informed about the legal frame of the study in the frame of the Socrates/Erasmus programme, which is laid down by the European Commission (EC) instruction from 2000. The students coming in the frame of the LLP – Erasmus programme are legally regular students of the host university, they have the right for education free of charge in the full extent and are obliged to take required examinations. If there is a parallel study course in English at the faculty, the knowledge of the national (Czech) language is not required.
 
Study stays in disciplines, completed with the state examination
Students are obliged to sit for the state examination in the Czech Republic.
 
Inconsistent distribution into individual clinical disciplines
The next items of the agenda were the consequences of the disproportionate composition of teaching medicine at individual universities in Europe. Some major subjects fall into partial sub-disciplines with independent examinations. This leads to problems for international students who need to fulfil study duties in our country in these minor subjects. From the viewpoint of our departments it is not possible to satisfy expectations of visiting students who are supposed to study here only a part of the discipline.
 
The results of this session are the following points:
 
ERASMUS – international students

1. International students will, based on our curriculum, prepare their study plans and send them to the 2nd Faculty of Medicine for the approval.
2. The 2nd Faculty of Medicine will set the term of the study stay. The term (semester) will be confirmed in June.
3. Education:
   • Theoretical part of the education takes place together with the foreign parallel class or as an individual course (approved by the head of the discipline)
   • Practical part – possible language problems will be avoided by simultaneous study stays of the Erasmus students with our foreign parallel class.
4. Examination:
   • It takes place according to the same rules as are valid for our students of the foreign parallel class. The result of the examination is recorded into the index book. Only in the case when the head of the discipline comes to the conclusion that due to the language barrier it is not possible to complete the course by a grade in the index book, the grade can be substituted by the issue of a unified „certificate“. The curriculum of the particular subject will be attached to the „certificate“.
      

ERASMUS – our students

1. The students of our faculty will, based on the curriculum of the host university, prepare in advance their study plans and submit them to the Students department for the opinion.
2. After the approval by the 2nd Faculty of Medicine, the Students department will send the application to the host university.
3. The ERASMUS programme is intended for students in the 2nd – 6th years.
4. Completion of the course abroad in subjects not finished with the state examination or passing the examination, will be recognized by the 2nd Faculty of Medicine after submitting of relevant documents from the host university (Transcript of records, curriculum). The Dean will decide based on the recommendation of the Vice-Dean for the Study.
5. In the 6th year, in case of subjects completed with state examination (internal medicine, surgery, paediatrics, gynaecology and obstetrics), it is possible to attend only a half of the course. This part of the education will be recognized by the 2nd Faculty of Medicine on the basis of submitting the relevant documents from the host university (Transcript of records, curriculum). The second half of the state examination subject (course) will be attended at the 2nd Faculty of Medicine.
6. In controversial cases, the recognition of the course attended at a university abroad will be decided by the Dean.
    

Written by:
doc. MUDr. Petr Zoban, CSc.
as. MUDr. Rudolf Černý, CSc.
Jana Ocelková, DiS.
 
Approved by:
doc. MUDr. Ondřej Hrušák, Ph.D.