University of Parma Medicine in English
The University of Parma has recently announced that starting from October 2021 they will be offering an English Medicine and Surgery Programme aimed at international students. While the exact number of seats and their division between future EU & non-EU students is yet to be confirmed, we have obtained a massive amount of detailed information by visiting & contacting the university, as well as reaching out to the course president. Here below is everything we’ve found out that makes the brand new programme in Parma University SO UNIQUE (important information about enrolment!).
(All useful reference documents and links can be found at bottom of page.)
Camici in Movimento
Camici in Movimento is ths society for representatives of the medical course in Parma University and will be the most helpful resource for future students.
Main Location(s) of the Pavia IMS Course
Surprisingly, while the course is offered by Parma University, the course location is in a different “seat of the university” located in a small town called Piacenza. It seems that all lectures and clerkships will take place in this scenic town instead of at the main campus of the university located in the heart of Parma.
Piacenza is a 45 minute train ride away from Parma itself, which makes us think that the cost of living and rent will be especially lower.
Number of EU & Non-EU Seats for UniPr
The president of the course has thus far, in a presentation as well as in a website dedicated to giving information about the course, suggested that there are going to be 100 seats available for students applying through the IMAT. However, this is pending confirmation by the MIUR (Ministry of Higher Education) call to applicants which is usually announced sometime in June. Once the call to applicants is out, we can confirm the number of seats for every University that offers Medicine & Surgery in Italy for both English and Italian languages.
NOTE: It has been confirmed that there will be 100 seats in total, with 60 reserved for EU and 40 for non-EU students.
While we don’t know if there will be further seat divisions for the English programme of University of Parma, we do know that its Italian programme has 3 seats reserved through the Marco Polo programme for students of Chinese descent, and 20 Non-EU seats (out of a total of 260). Italian taught programmes, however, generally have a disproportionately lower number of Non-EU seats compared to their English counterparts so this does not necessarily predict the number for the English taught Medicine & Surgery Programme.
The Unique Organisation of the Course
The course president Professor Marco Vitale has stated that the faculty would like to prepare future doctors with a focus on humanities, scientific & evidence based medicine, and a hope of igniting the passion of life long learning in their future students.
There will be a particular emphasis on the following skills, as stated by him:
- Excellent communication skills.
- Self-learning and self-assessment skills (continuing education).
- Ability to independently analyse and solve medical problems.
- Excellent clinical practice based on scientific evidence (evidence-based medicine).
- Continuing professional development skills.
- Knowledge of scientific research in medicine.
Another VERY interesting point he mentions is that in 5th year students will have a focus of studying healthcare systems in other countries with opportunities to train abroad later in 6th year, which is something unique to the English course. We’re curious to see if this would actually better prepare international students for post graduate options and specialisation training applications.
The Parma course in English is organised to have specific areas of focus based on the semester number, with the 6th year entirely dedicated to hospital time & thesis writing. Hence, no classroom lectures! There seems to be an important emphasis on clerkships. More on that below.
Medicine & Surgery Syllabus and Course Structure
Here is a more detailed breakdown of the course syllabus and organisation for this brand new programme:
- Semesters 1-3: Morphology, biochemistry, functions
- Semester 4: Pathophysiology of diseases and Clinical microbiology
- Semesters 5-9: Clinical disciplines and related biomedical technologies
- Semester 10: Public health, organisation of healthcare systems (in Italy and also countries outside of Italy), reasoned medical therapy and clinical risk management
- Semesters 11-12: Completion of the curricular internship and the qualifying internship + preparation of the degree thesis
Year by year break down of syllabus:
57 CFU
1st semester
- Physico-chemical Bases of Life – 8 CFU
- Cells & Tissues – 9 CFU
- Statistics, Research Methodology & Safety Regulation – 5 CFU
- Molecular Biology, Genetics & Genomics – 6 CFU
- ADE – 2 CFU
2nd semester
- Biochemistry – 12 CFU
- Human Anatomy & Organogenesis – 12 CFU
- ADE – 3 CFU
62 CFU
1st semester
- Human Physiology – 12 CFU
- Immunology & Microbiology – 13 CFU
- Medical Humanities – 6 CFU
2nd semester
- Disease Pathophysiology – 8 CFU
- Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases 8 CFU
- Pharmacology – 9 CFU
- Biomedical Research Clerkship – 6 CFU
61 CFU
1st semester
- Laboratory Medicine & Immunogenetics – 6 CFU
- Endocrine & Metabolic & Gastrointestinal Disease – 9 CFU
- Neurological Sciences – 11 CFU
- Psychiatry – 4 CFU
2nd semester
- Hematology & Oncology – 7 CFU
- Respiratory Diseases & Allergology – 6 CFU
- Cardiovasculare Diseases & Basic Life Support – 7 CFU
- Biomedical Technologies & Imaging – 11 CFU
60 CFU
1st semester
- Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology – 5 CFU Nephrology & Urology – 5 CFU
- Muscoloskeletal Disease – 3 CFU
- Rehabilitation Medicine – 5 CFU
- Dermatology & Plastic Surgery – 5 CFU
- Geriatrics & Functional Patient Management – 6 CFU
2nd semester
- Head & Neck – 10 CFU
- Clinical Surgery & Emergency Medicine – 15 CFU
- Medicine & Surgery Clerkship I (clinical rotation 1) – 6 CFU
60 CFU
1st semester
- Pediatrics – 8 CFU
- Obstetrics & Gynaecology – 6 CFU
- Pathology – 8 CFU
- Forensic & Occupational Medicine – 7 CFU
- ADE – 1 CFU
2nd semester
- Public Health, International Health Systems & Economics – 11 CFU
- Internal Medicine, Clinical Pharmacology & Clinical Risk Management – 11 CFU
- Medicine & Surgery Clerkship II (clinical rotation 2) – 6 CFU
- ADE – 2 CFU
60 CFU
1st semester
- Medicine & Surgery clerkship (clinical rotation 3) – 27 CFU
- Thesis 3 CFU
2nd semester
- Licensing Internship in Internal medicine
- Licensing Internship in Surgery
- Licensing Internship in Community Medicine (all 3 for a total of 15 CFU)
- Thesis 15 CFU
Course Timetable & Academic Calendar
Each year, the University of Parma draws up its own calendario accademico, or academic calendar, indicating the dates on which the University is closed in accordance with public holidays; this can be found on the University website. However, the Calendar of Teaching Activities can be downloaded on the Degree Courses’ website.
Generally speaking, the timetable of the first semester is made public two or three weeks before the beginning of the semester itself; the timetable of the second semester is published about ten days before classes resume.
Each student can consult the calendar through different ways:
- Visiting the Agenda Studenti website, where it is possible to check the schedule in various ways by setting filters (entire schedule, scheduled lectures of just one class, all scheduled lectures from a certain professor etc.)
- With the University’s official mobile application “UniPR Mobile”.
THERE IS OBLIGATORY ATTENDANCE: At least 67{bb8d53cabbfbfa48737bbedab9cb9b55bf5183c8f56cc8e5fd88b7a4065b00a7} of lecture hours for each course and 90{bb8d53cabbfbfa48737bbedab9cb9b55bf5183c8f56cc8e5fd88b7a4065b00a7} of hours for each clerkship!
Practical Experience & Clerkships in Parma
There seems to be a heavy emphasis on a rounded out experience, along with a variety of required clerkships starting early in 2nd year. Additionally, a very unique structure in 6th year, in which the entire year will be dedicated to internships in the hospitals with no lectures. But what makes it TRULY UNIQUE is the opportunity to COMPLETE CLERKSHIPS ABROAD. Despite reaching out multiple times, we have not yet been able to confirm if these clerkships (in European Health Facilities) are entirely unique to University of Parma, and exactly how they differ from the traditional Erasmus exchange available to students in every university. It seems that this possibility to go abroad and train is not related to Erasmus, but rather to their 5th year emphasis in learning about healthcare systems outside of Italy.
This is a breakdown of how their clerkships will be structured over the 6 years:
- 2nd year: Internship in biomedical research (Biomedical Research Clerkship)
- 4th year: Clinical internship in General Medicine and General Surgery (Clinical Rotation 1)
- 5th year: Clinical internship in Pediatrics and Gynaecology (Clinical Rotation 2)
- 6th year 1st semester (Clinical Rotation 3): this period can be spent in European Health Facilities with which specific agreements will be activated.
Fees and Grants Offered for Pavia IMS Students
The fees for Parma University ranges from €150 to a maximum of €2625, depending on a number of factors including family income and/or Academic merit.
On a pamphlet (SEE END OF PAGE) that summarises the details about the new Medicine & Surgery English Programme at the University of Parma, it clearly states that there are 100{bb8d53cabbfbfa48737bbedab9cb9b55bf5183c8f56cc8e5fd88b7a4065b00a7} fee covering grants for students that need them. Depending on circumstances of family income or academic merit, there are scholarships available to reduce fees to nothing.
Below is a more detailed calculation to estimate the fees for a student:
An EU student may attain an ISEE amount by creating an Attestazione ISEE (Equivalent Economic Situation Indicator).
All students enrolled or whom intend to enroll in degree courses of the University of Parma that want to request a reduction on the amount of university fees and contributions, must complete the application on the ER-GO website BEFORE NOVEMBER. Applications are not accepted after the deadline.
More details about tuition fees of this course can be found here.
Interesting Student Services
The University of Parma offers students a variety of services ranging from associations, social clubs and societies, to language learning centres.
According to it’s website, the Centro Linguistico di Ateneo (CLA) promotes the learning of modern foreign languages, offering students the opportunity to verify or acquire basic and advanced language skills (from level A1 / A2 to level C1 / C2) provided in their training course and beyond. The CLA offers a wide range of languages, from European (English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Russian, Romanian) to extra-European languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Arabic. The CLA also offers courses in soft skills and intercultural communication, as well as courses aimed at preparing international certifications.
They also have a dedicated website as well as an app for an interactive map of the libraries students can study in and avail of different online services from.
Full list of services and opportunities: https://ilmondochetiaspetta.unipr.it/servizi-e-opportunita/
Associations: https://www.unipr.it/servizi/oltre-lo-studio/associazioni-studentesche
Important Information About Applying
While we can see on their page that Medicine & Surgery is listed, it is not linked as to more easily go and read more about it. Luckily we have the document that details all of it and have summarised it for you.
THERE IS A REQUIRED PRE-APPLICATION PROCESS
- There seems to be a pre-evaluation of your previous degrees which NEED TO BE SUBMITTED THROUGH THIS FORUM. This might be where you will need to upload your documents, including the DV.
- You must sign up through their website at this link by the deadline of JULY 8 by clicking ISCRIVITI as seen below:
However registrations are not open until the 8th of July so at the moment you are just greeted with this message:
It is really important you apply on the Universitaly website first, and after your pre-application you follow the instructions on the Parma University website.
It is also a requirement to have received 12 years of schooling before applying. For international students who might not have completed 12 years of schooling, the University of Parma actually offers a “Foundation Programme” which we are currently writing an article on.
Important Resources & Links
Course Website: https://ilmondochetiaspetta.unipr.it/lmcu-medicine-and-surgery/
Leaflet of general information: https://www.unipr.it/sites/default/files/allegatiparagrafo/15-04-2021/lmu-medicine_e_surgery_eng.pdf
Leaflet for student support: https://www.unipr.it/sites/default/files/albo_pretorio/allegati/12-04-2021/leaflet_cai_2021.pdf
Student Services: https://ilmondochetiaspetta.unipr.it/servizi-e-opportunita/
Link for registrations: https://ilmondochetiaspetta.unipr.it/iscrizione/
Link for pre-evaluation: https://www.unipr.it/node/29950
Different University Associations: https://www.unipr.it/servizi/oltre-lo-studio/associazioni-studentesche
Facebook Page for Information: https://www.facebook.com/unipr?sk=app_4949752878
1 thought on “University of Parma Medicine in English – The New & Unique Programme”
Thank you for putting together such a detailed and informative piece. Kudos. This website plus your absolutely fantastic deep dive interviews on YouTube are a Godsend! Especially in these trying times, when one is unable to visit the Universities physically, this is the next best thing available.
Regarding the English Program in Parma, I had written to them and I was surprised when I received a response from the University. They stated that pending MIUR approval, the program will have a 100 seats, with 60 reserved for EU and 40 reserved for non-EU students. Just FYI