Hong Kong’s oldest medical school plans to establish a new graduate-entry programme, with its dean expressing confidence the faculty can “significantly increase” enrolment in its regular degree by more than a third to 400 students a year. The University of Hong Kong (HKU) announced the move on Saturday just days after the Post reported the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) was in talks with Imperial College London to set up the city’s third medical school. The increased competition for talent is set against the backdrop of an ongoing shortage of doctors, with the government also outlining its vision for the city to become a biomedical hub in the region.
HKU’s medical school dean, Dr Wallace Lau Chak-sing, provided the initial details of the new graduate programme at the faculty’s congregation ceremony. “This bespoke four-year programme will have the added benefit of accelerating the training of suitable candidates to help meet medical manpower needs, and further diversify the professional landscape,” Lau said. He said the programme would provide a pathway for students who held a relevant undergraduate degree and were deeply motivated to become medical practitioners.
The medical school said the new graduate programme would cover the core content of the six-year undergraduate curriculum and offer flexible preparatory courses for students without a background in subjects such as chemistry and biology. If the proposal is approved by health aut.