Egyptian Medical Degrees Will No Longer Be 7 Years of Study

In an effort to keep up Egypt’s pace with the ever-evolving educational systems of the world, Egyptian Parliament have announced their ratification of a decision to cut the number of years needed to acquire a medical bachelor’s degree down to five years, as opposed the seven years it usually takes, in addition to a shift towards a credit hours system. The new law is set to take full effect starting with classes of both 2018 and 2019.

Although medicine students might study for only five years, much like any other faculty, they’re still required to fulfill two years of hands-on clinical training before fully qualifying to actually practice medicine. Though it sounds like it’s just seven years again, it’s actually more beneficial; those extra two years count as professional medical experience, as opposed to the one year of experience all doctors are familiar with. After the two training years are over with, future doctors are required to take a pivotal pass/fail exam before fully obtaining their degree; with similar exams to be taken every five years as a refresher of sorts to validate and evaluate their performance.

Furthermore, students will also have a wider array of subjects to choose from in their studies, with more than one doctor available for each subject, as well as much more practical experience with patients in medical facilities starting from the very first year, as opposed to the fourth year. According to an announcement by Minister of Higher Education, Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, students may choose to complete their final two years in another university, either locally or abroad.

Photo from igem.org.