The training of a mid-level healthcare professional involves studying a significant number of different subjects and assimilating a large amount of information in a short period of time. The credit-modular system of educational process organization according to the standards of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) of education provides good prospects for the implementation of this task, ensuring the acquisition of relevant knowledge and competencies, which is necessary in the context of competition on the global labour market and innovative development of society.
 The purpose of the study was to find out and analyse the opinions of students, academic and teaching staff of Physiology department, their attitude and suggestions regarding the implementation of ECTS at the Professional Medical College of IFNMU, where this system started working since 2021.
 Materials and methods. An anonymous survey was carried to achieve the set objectives. Separate questionnaires were drawn up for students and teachers, which included questions about their attitude to teaching disciplines (including Physiology) in accordance with the ECTS principles, its positive and negative aspects, wishes and suggestions for improving the educational process organization and other items. In total, the questionnaires contained eight questions for teachers and sixteen for students.
 Results. The analysis of the survey results gives grounds to assert that not all students of the Medical College are fully ready to the study based on ECTS at the moment, transition from passive to active forms of it, where individual and creative work is preferred. Actually, in our opinion one of the key problematic issues of the credit transfer system of education is that students are not entirely focused on the priority of independent learning of the curriculum material and a significant part of extracurricular learning in it. Also most students consider that the amount of material assigned for independent study is too much. On the other hand, our teaching experience shows that they do not always work through the topics properly, although there are consultation hours during extracurricular time, where students can discuss unclear questions with the teacher. The attitude to test control as an integral part of the educational process and one of the methods of students’ knowledge evaluation is ambiguous. Among the positive aspects of ECTS education the most often are noted the following: constant and versatile preparation for classes, a better evaluation system, the possibility of retaking unsatisfactory marks, which is an important additional motivation to improve the level of knowledge from the subject and improve academic performance.
 Conclusions. As a result, the following conclusions can be drawn: a) as of today, the perception of the IFNMU Medical College students the credit-modular system of education, their readiness and attitude to it are quite ambiguous with the corresponding positive and negative aspects; b) there is an evidently need for further work to improve the training of both students and teachers, optimisation of their collaboration and creation a closer relationship between them; c) it is necessary, in our opinion, on the one hand, to preserve maximally the positive achievements of the national education system, on the other hand – to use effectively the experience of European countries. This will create the basis for training a qualified, mobile, creative specialist of mid-level healthcare.
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Sep 25, 2024
Jarkko Impola 
Open Access
