Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > FY2003 White Paper on Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology >Part1 Reference Higher Education Reform Q&A? Question12

Through developments such as the arrival of an aging society, changes in illness structures, the sophistication of medical technology and advances in life science, the environment surrounding medical care in Japan has undergone dramatic changes and people have an increased interest in and diversified needs regarding medical care. Given these circumstances, doctors and dentists are required to have advanced specialist knowledge and the ability to provide cutting-edge medical care, while on the other hand they are required to have the ability to provide patients with comprehensive medical care. In addition, there is a large expectation in society that medical care professionals that can implement patient-centered medical care and have acquired wide-ranging and high-quality clinical abilities will be cultivated.

Problems that have been indicated in previous medical and dental education include: 1) the curricula were overcrowded, which put excessive emphasis on cramming information and memory education; 2) because the educational content of each course was decided by the individual judgment of the educator in charge, wide disparities in the quality of education between universities and between courses became apparent; furthermore, the targets that students had to attain by graduation were not stipulated, and there were insufficient opportunities to adjust, evaluate and carefully select curricula with an overall picture; 3) because clinical practical training was carried out on a short-term rotation centered on observations, students graduated without sufficiently mastering basic clinical abilities.

Given the awareness of these problems, in March 2001 the model core curriculum stipulating the minimum content that all medical and dental students must study before graduation was formulated. Currently, many universities are proceeding with educational reforms based on the model core curriculum and are working to improve and enhance education content. Furthermore, active efforts are proceeding at universities, such as the implementation of an inter-university shared examination to evaluate whether students have the attitude, skills and knowledge required to carry out practical training at actual clinical fields like hospitals and clinics; the enhancement of medical care participatory clinical practical training; and the establishment of an evaluation system for the development of teaching competency and teaching performance of educators and others.

MEXT expects that the promotion of these reforms at all universities regardless of whether they are national, public or private universities will lead to the production of excellent doctors and dentists who will take roles in 21st century medical care, and is formulating a variety of support measures to that end.

Furthermore, beginning in FY2004, doctors will be required to undergo at least two years of clinical training after graduation, and beginning in FY2006, dentists will be required to undergo at least one year of clinical training after graduation.