With medical school places for South Africans notoriously being at a premium, an academic affiliation agreement clinched recently will create new pathways for local students wanting to study medicine, reports Moneyweb.
The partnership was inked between St George’s University (SGU) School of Medicine in Grenada in the West Indies and leading KwaZulu-Natal private school Hilton College, in response to structural bottlenecks in this country’s public medical education framework.
With only 10 medical schools operating nationally, domestic capacity remains severely constrained.
The scale of the bottleneck is reflected in the high number of applications received by local institutions:
• University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN): Around 12 000 applications for just 250 first-year MBChB places in recent intakes.
• University of the Witwatersrand (Wits): Medicine stood as the university’s most applied-for degree, with thousands of prospective students competing for around 250 places.
New option
Under the terms of the agreement, qualifying Hilton College school leavers who meet SGU’s academic criteria will be eligible for entry into SGU’s five-year doctor of medicine (MD) track.
The programme offers geographical flexibility, allowing successful applicants to begin their basic medical sciences at SGU’s campus in Grenada or at Northumbria University in Newcastle, UK.
The agreement includes dedicated admissions guidance, guaranteed interview slots, and eligibility for partial merit-based scholarships for qualifying applicants.
Clinical training across the US and UK
Students progressing through SGU’s Doctor of Medicine programme gain access to practical clinical rotations via an international network encompassing more than 75 affiliated hospitals and healthcare centres across the US and UK.
To address post-graduation entry into the local healthcare sector, SGU holds recognition by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), which provides eligible South African graduates with a legal route to apply for professional registration and practice locally, subject to meeting all statutory regulatory criteria.
Moneyweb article – New route into medicine for SA students (Open access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Medical school admissions: ‘SAMA slaps on a bandage while avoiding the wound’
Expanded registrar programme is for ‘blacks only’
No quota system at new SA private medical university