In October, a new national programme of aptitude tests will start at the Faculty of Medicine. This has been commissioned by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare with the objective to validate newly arrived medical doctors' theoretical and practical competence in order to speed up their chances of finding work.
"The fact that Umeå University and the Faculty of Medicine has been commissioned this task covering the whole of Sweden can be seen as a sign of our very high competence as regards to examination, not least in practical examinations. We are very thankful for all those who have developed these examinations over the years, not least the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)," says Diana Berggren, Dean and Birgitta Bernspång, Vice-Dean of Education.
"One of the reasons that Umeå University gets this assignment is that the Faculty of Medicine has good collaborations with the Department of Applied Educational Science who organises the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (Högskoleprovet)."
The assignment from the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) is managed by Magnus Hultin, chairperson of the Medical Programme Board and head of the planning and implementation of the aptitude test at Umeå University.
The planning is well underway and the recruitment of a study adviser and a study administrator to first and foremost aid in test administration has begun. In future, more new employments might also come into question.
"All employees of the Medical Programme will be involved in the aptitude test in one way or another. In order to launch the aptitude test in October already, we also need to employ administrators and free-up teachers to focus on this task," says Magnus Hultin.
Details will follow after the summer
"Now as the agreement has been signed, a period of setting up application routines and formulating instructions to the aptitude test will follow. The plan is to provide information about dates and applications already in a month's time. After the summer holiday, we are hoping to be able to provide practical information concerning the aptitude test," says Magnus Hultin.
The agreement with the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare expires on 31 December 2017 with the possibility of a three-year extension.