Welcome to the Faculty of Medicine
I warmly welcome all new and continuing students to the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney. This was the first and is the largest medical faculty in Australia. It is also part of Australia’s most comprehensive cluster of health faculties, including Health Sciences, Dentistry, Nursing and Midwifery, and Pharmacy, which provides excellent opportunities for inter-professional learning and research.
It is one of the points of difference of this University that our teaching is research-led. For four years running, the University of Sydney has been ranked in the top 25 biomedical universities in the world by the Times Higher Education Supplement. The opportunity to study under the supervision of academics who are leaders in their fields attracts applicants from around the world.
Our aim is always that all students increase their knowledge and skills, including the ability to contribute to the acquisition of knowledge that they and those who follow them will use in medical and public health.
The graduate-entry University of Sydney Medical Program (USydMP) has won numerous teaching awards and the curriculum is licensed to universities in the UK, South Africa and the Middle East and to other universities in Australia. The USydMP provides a unique learning environment that nurtures communication, teamwork and evidence-based lifelong learning, essential for tomorrow’s doctors.
The Faculty of Medicine provides a wide range of postgraduate courses for medical and non-medical professionals. In each of the programs on offer, students are able to build on their knowledge, expand their career options and ensure their level of skills enables them to be among the best in their profession.
The postgraduate programs cover a diverse range of subjects, from international public health to Indigenous health promotion, medical education to pain management. Courses in medical humanities help bring a human side to the practice of medicine, and complement more traditional programs in public health, epidemiology, infectious diseases and surgery.
Flexible modes of delivery include distance learning and face-to-face block-mode. Many courses are available for both full-time and part-time enrolment. In some, the curriculum is structured so that the graduate certificate, graduate diploma and master’s degree are articulated. This allows students to transfer from one level to another with credit for coursework already completed.
The Faculty of Medicine has approximately 100 teaching hospitals and associated research units conducting cutting-edge research and education across the full spectrum of health and medical knowledge, from the medical sciences to clinical medicine, public health and leadership in large international clinical trials, health service delivery and medical education.
Our research activities consistently attract high levels of funding – around $90 million in 2008 – from the federal and state governments, overseas funding agencies and other public and private funding sources.
The faculty has over 1700 academic staff and 800 higher degree research students, and our research output ranks highly internationally and translates into major advances in healthcare.
I hope that you find this handbook useful and trust that your time as a student will be rewarding.
Professor Bruce Robinson
Dean