Comparison of the First Year Curricular Achievements between Students of the Medical College and the Professional Graduate Medical School in Chungbuk National University

Abstract

Purpose: Chungbuk National University Professional Graduate Medical School (PGMS) was established in 2005. Students in this program have been taught together with the medical college (MC) students under the same curriculum. The first year now being complete, we decided to assess the curricular achievements of the PGMS students. Methods: We analyzed the academic achievements of the PGMS and the MC students by comparing the test scores of each subject taught during the first year. Results: MC students showed significantly higher achievements in ‘Structural basis of the human body`` and ‘Neuroanatomy``, while PGMS students showed significantly better achievements in ‘Health and Society I``. In the remaining subjects, the achievements of the PGMS students were comparable to those of the MC students. And there was a difference of variances in ‘Microstructure of the human cell and tissue``, ‘Molecular genetics`` and ‘Pathology``, showing the heterogeneity of the two groups. Conclusion: There was no difference in the overall achievement between the PGMS and MC students in the first year of Chungbuk National University Professional Graduate Medical School. However, the different characteristics between the PGMS and MC students suggest some need for curricular differentiation between the two groups.