Melbourne/Monash network wins new rural med places
[ UniNews Vol. 15, No. 13
24 July - 7 August 2006 ]
The Northern Victoria Regional Medical Education Network – a joint University of Melbourne and Monash University venture – has been awarded 60 new student medical places in Victoria.
The Network builds on the success of the two leading universities’ rural clinical schools in Shepparton (Melbourne) and Bendigo (Monash).
Melbourne’s Rural Clinical School in Shepparton will be the base for 30 of the new students with the remaining 30 at Monash’s Regional Clinical School in Bendigo.
The Shepparton-based students will also have clinical placements at Wangaratta, Ballarat, Echuca, Benalla and Wodonga.
The first intake to the new places will be in 2007.
The University of Melbourne has also been awarded 85 additional student nursing places, including 45 in mental health nursing) and 10 clinical psychology places.
Professor Dawn DeWitt, head of the University of Melbourne’s School of Rural Health in Shepparton, said the new student medical places and the resources that will follow to rural and regional Victoria will help produce outstanding doctors for these communities.
“The University will be offering both undergraduate and graduate places where the non-clinical years are completed mainly in Melbourne and the clinical years in central and northern Victoria.
“Students undertaking our graduate program will take up rural and regional clinical placements after just 18 months,” she said.
University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis said the additional places are welcome news for country Victoria. “This important decision means the universities will be able to welcome extra medical students from regional Victoria in 2007.
“It is a vote of confidence that Monash and Melbourne together will continue to provide excellent medical education at various levels in rural and regional Victoria.”
Dean of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Professor James Angus, said the successful Melbourne-Monash bid unites Victoria’s leading medical schools for the benefit of rural medicine.
“We have been training medical professionals in country Victoria for 30 years. Our quality rural and regional medical education programs are supported by world-class academic staff and resources, and enjoy high-quality clinical support from hospital staff and local GPs.
“We are pleased to be able to extend our program in training rural and regional medical students and health professionals to deliver better health care to rural communities and to help solve the crisis of doctor availability in central and northern Victoria.”
Professor Angus also welcomed the additional places in nursing and in psychology. “Mental health is a great strength in our Faculty and an area of great need in our community,” he said.
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