Main objective

During the second semester of the 3rd year, all students are assigned to one of 35 laboratories from among basic or social medicine laboratories, including the Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, and the Research Center of Health, Physical Fitness and Sports, so they can grapple with research themes for about 4 and half a months, freed from all other lectures and exercises. Being at a cutting-edge laboratory and actively working on experiments and research under the guidance of a teacher, students learn the scientific ways of thinking and gain first-hand experience of working with researchers in a laboratory in real time.

Seminar outline

Based on information described in the guidance and the experience of their visits to laboratories, students actively select the laboratory where they will work. The research theme and the schedule are decided according to discussions between the academic advisors and students. At the end of the seminar, they compile their research reports for publication and they present their research results either in poster sessions or in oral presentation.

Seminar results

The fully-fledged introduction of seminars into the School of Medicine curriculum started in 1991, so teachers are now accustomed to it and the attitude of students for completion has improved steadily, and it has taken root. We collect questionnaires from teachers and students at 1 months after the start of the seminar and also at the end of the seminar to summarize evaluations. Recent results show a high degree of satisfaction from both teachers and students.