According to Deutsche Welle, medical education in Germany is divided into two types: general medicine and dentistry. Pharmaceuticals are a separate field. Medical care here is paid, and many doctors work in private practices, that is, they open their own business. Therefore, a distinctive feature of medical education in Germany is that students, alongside the typical and necessary subjects for doctors, also study microeconomics, enterprise management technology, and office work. These areas can be studied either at the university or after graduation in continuing education courses. Additional knowledge then helps young doctors to open their own clinic or practice and get on their feet. In general, in medicine too, the future lies in mixed specialization.
At the Faculty of General Medicine at the University of Bonn, a Russian woman, Elena Nikitina, is in her fourth year. At first, Lena enrolled in a medical institute in her homeland, but then decided to go to study in Germany after all. Now she is in her fourth year and simultaneously working on her doctoral thesis.
- What difficulties do foreign students studying medicine in Germany face?
- Many exams are in the form of tests. That is, you need to choose the correct answer from the suggested options. Sometimes the questions are very oddly phrased. I think oral or written exams, where you have to formulate the answer yourself, are much better. Students of all faculties at German universities face tests. Foreign language exams, for example, are also in the form of tests. And only if you do poorly on the test might they send you to an oral exam. Most students, especially foreigners, do not like this form of learning. But professors find that tests allow them to check assignments quickly and have as little direct contact with students as possible.
- And where do you get practical skills? Do you find a place yourself?
- So far we have had few practical classes. I am also unhappy that we are already in the eighth semester and we have not yet had either surgery or therapy. There is a lot of theory here, and only the last year is practice.
- And yet, medical education is impossible to imagine without practice. Otherwise, how can one study anatomy?
- We had anatomy in the third semester. Groups of 10 people dissect one corpse. A senior student is responsible for these classes, explaining how to dissect and helping prepare for oral exams. One professor is in charge of all four tables. (Now a new method of studying anatomy has been developed, where students dissect not a real body but a virtual one. Three-dimensional computer graphics recreate an accurate picture of the human body and allow one to look inside without a scalpel. But this method is new and has not yet been tried in Germany. - Author's note.)
- About 80% of medical graduates defend dissertations after graduating from the institute. Is that customary?
- Most prepare their dissertations while still studying at the university, because later it will be difficult to combine work at a hospital and work on a dissertation. In Germany there are several types of doctoral thesis: experimental - work in a laboratory, requiring several free semesters; clinical - interviewing patients, reading their records; statistical - data processing.
- Does a foreign student have the time and opportunity to work part-time?
- Yes, a medical student can easily find a job as a nurse's assistant, for example, at a university clinic. I have had to do this too. But working part-time is one thing, supporting yourself is quite another. In my case, for example, my parents help me with money.
- Theoretically, can a foreign medical student earn his or her own living and pay for education in Germany?
- It is quite difficult, because every year we have very serious exams and you have to devote yourself fully to your studies. But some manage - they work in hospitals or in the ambulance service. These are mainly people who already have training as a nurse or paramedic. They earn their own living and pay for their studies. But there are few such people.
- What do you think a medical education obtained in Germany will give you?
- I hope I will be hired to work as a doctor.
- What would you prefer - to go home or to stay and work in Europe?
- Honestly, I haven't thought about it yet. When I did my internship at Moscow dentistry, I really liked it - I saw many different operations, and even assisted.
- And in Germany, have you had the chance to do similar practical training?
- Yes, also in surgery and at a children's clinic, and next holidays I am planning to go into plastic surgery.
If Lena decides to stay and work in Germany after graduating from university, her chances are quite good. This country has a chronic shortage of medical staff, and doctors are especially needed in the new federal states, on the territory of the former GDR. So if foreign graduates do not encounter an obstacle in the form of an intractable and unfriendly official from the foreigners authority, work in the West is guaranteed for them.