QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ASK BEFORE STARTING AT NUMED

 

    This is often the time of year when prospective students are exploring their options when it comes to applying to go to medical school. In fact some may already have read marketing material from Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed) online, or may have even attended a virtual open day. It is crucial to interrogate the information one is presented with, as otherwise there could be long term, expensive consequences.

1.     What is the fail rate for the MBBS programme at NUMed?

    Universities rarely publicise details of how many students fail to qualify after the five year programme. The fail rate in final exams at NUMed has been in the 8%-16% range in the last few years. The fail rate in most UK, and in other Malaysian medical schools, public and private, is of the order of 3%-5%. 

There are likely to be a number of explanations for this, such as entry criteria, but the more fundamental issue relates to whether it is ever possible (or even necessary) to deliver a UK style curriculum in Malaysia, and examine students as though this was the case, with the same, inflexible exam regulations.

It would also be worth asking how many students have to repeat the various years of the programme, before they are able to pass.

 2.     Does it make sense to deliver a programme that is accredited by both the General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK, and the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) in Malaysia?

    It is often stated that this is the unique selling point of the degree programme at NUMed. It is however not without its pitfalls and hazards. This was demonstrated most clearly during the recent pandemic, when most UK students were qualified by the University and the GMC without sitting final exams, whilst the Malaysian students had to do most of the usual exams, without a great deal of modification to adjust for the very different learning experience they had had during the year. 

As I have said previously, it is like playing a game of football with two different sets of broadly similar, but not identical rules, which can only lead to predictable chaos.

 More recently exams have had to be scrapped after they had been sat, because of issues around the digital links between the UK and Malaysia- it is not difficult to imagine how stressful this would have been for the students involved.

 From 2024, all students will have to pass the Medical Licensing exam set by the GMC, and universities will have to incorporate these into their own exams- can this work in Malaysia?

Again much play is made of the fact that NUMed graduates will be able to apply for and complete the two year UK Foundation Programme in the UK. Whilst that may be the situation at the moment, with eased visa processes, this may not be the case in the middle of this decade, with expanded UK medical schools producing an additional 1500 graduates every year.

 3.     What is the quality of the clinical faculty at NUMed?

    Questions should be asked about the quality of the clinical faculty at NUMed. The number of clinical staff seconded from the UK has reduced considerably. Departing staff are not replaced, generally because it is expensive to do so. 

Students are often taught by Clinical Teaching Fellows, out from the UK for a year. These are very newly qualified doctors, without a great deal in the way of clinical experience, and although they can be useful for teaching certain parts of the curriculum, they are no substitute for a well-experienced faculty, with appropriate postgraduate qualifications.

Many of the clinical faculty do not have Annual Practising Certificates from the MMC, or contracts of employment with local hospitals. This model is quite different from that of other private medical schools in Malaysia, where the clinical teaching is delivered in much closer collaboration with local clinicians.

 As an anonymous ex-NUMed member notes:

"I would just say the quality of teaching in NUMed has been atrocious and criminally underwhelming. Teachers being placed there just because they have certain qualifications, not because of actual teaching skills.

As we all know, having the knowledge does not necessarily make you a good teacher. 

In fact, I would say there are only a handful of lecturers I would even consider teachers by definition. As most were redundant and employed just for namesake."

4.     Is NUMed truly a research-focussed institution?

    One only has to look at the SETARA ratings, which are heavily weighted in favour of research outcomes, to see where NUMed ranks. Unlike IMU and Monash Malaysia, it definitely does not have a six star rating. The impression on the ground is that NUMed operates in isolation, with very little collaboration with local universities on the national stage.

5.     What is the culture at NUMed like?

We all expect certain standards of behaviour in our universities, which in turn sets the organisational culture. Is it open and free? Are decisions made in a transparent, collaborative way? Are students valued as learners, or are they merely ‘cash cows’?

Is debate and discussion encouraged? Are different views listened to? Is dissent tolerated? Are students and staff alike treated with respect?

I have my views, but if you do not ask the questions, you will never find out!

Dr Al Amaladoss

Formerly Associate Professor (Clinical) in Psychiatry

NUMed.