Abstract
BackgroundThe past decade has witnessed an upsurge in medical curriculum partnerships established across national boundaries to offer students at the foreign institution (host) a learning experience comparable to that of students at the exporting institution (home). However, since the learning environments and national healthcare contexts differ greatly between institutions, concerns have been raised in the literature about potential low quality of curriculum delivery, inadequate preparation of students to practice in the host country healthcare setting, and a culture shock for host students having to study a home curriculum.. The experiences and opinions of medical students related to these concerns have not been investigated. This study takes an explorative approach on key challenges faced by host institution students.MethodThree hundred sixty-one host students recruited from 3 partnerships completed a survey about their motives, transition from high school, language, preparedness for practice, future career planning, and general satisfaction. Descriptive statistics of closed-ended items and thematic analysis of open-ended items were performed.ResultsFindings revealed that students generally held positive views of the education they received. Switching to a new language of instruction (English) and learning environment was not perceived as a major obstacle. However, a significant portion of students who as non-nationals did not speak the language of the patient population felt this complicated effective workplace-based learning.ConclusionDespite differences in learning experiences, host students felt the partnership afforded opportunities to acquire unique academic competencies and boost their career. Further adaptation of the home curriculum to the host country healthcare system may be beneficial, without losing sight of medical curriculum partnerships’ potential to offer graduates an international outlook on global healthcare.
Highlights
The past decade has witnessed an upsurge in medical curriculum partnerships established across national boundaries to offer students at the foreign institution a learning experience comparable to that of students at the exporting institution
Switching to a new language of instruction (English) and learning environment was not perceived as a major obstacle
The host student population in partnership A consisted exclusively of male students as they had no female students at that time; the total sample across the three institutions had an equal gender distribution (51% male, 49% female)
Summary
The past decade has witnessed an upsurge in medical curriculum partnerships established across national boundaries to offer students at the foreign institution (host) a learning experience comparable to that of students at the exporting institution (home). Since the learning environments and national healthcare contexts differ greatly between institutions, concerns have been raised in the literature about potential low quality of curriculum delivery, inadequate preparation of students to practice in the host country healthcare setting, and a culture shock for host students having to study a home curriculum. Medical education institutions are establishing crossborder curriculum partnerships [1, 2]. In such partnerships, the curriculum, not students or faculty, crosses borders from the home location where it was developed to a host institution where it is delivered [3]. Much attention is given to the effectiveness and desirability of this new form of internationalization based on an investigation of stakeholders’ motives and quality assurance frameworks [8].
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