University of the Free State UFS Medicine

University of the Free State UFS Medicine

One of South Africa’s foremost medical schools

University of The Free State Medicine, Since the early 1970s when it opened, the School of Medicine has consistently been one of South Africa’s foremost medical schools, and is both nationally and internationally renowned for its training curriculum and the excellence of the medical and medical physics graduates it produces. Situated predominantly in the beautiful Francois Retief Building, and with a clinical training platform that includes all of Universitas, National, and Pelonomi Tertiary Hospitals, as well as a host of other regional hospitals and clinics throughout the Free State, the School of Medicine has always attracted a large number of high-calibre applicants for its courses from across South Africa and indeed internationally.

A vibrant, dynamic, innovative environment for learning and working

The academic teaching staff in both the basic human sciences and clinical academic departments are all highly regarded academics and clinicians, with a large number of staff being internationally recognised for their

• research output,
• academic profiles and
• clinical training skills.

In addition, a large and highly-skilled administrative staff team ensures effective operational management of the training courses and provides an optimal experience for the students during their time studying in the School of Medicine. A wide range of ancillary support structures are available for students and staff to improve their general and academic skills – from leadership training courses to life skills training, psychological support, and basic research skills training – all of which create a vibrant, dynamic, innovative environment for learning and working.

Quality improvements to our estates and clinical training platform capacity

In the past few years, a number of quality improvements to our estates and clinical training platform capacity has occurred:

• The development of state-of-the-art teaching and learning facilities in the new James Moroka Building.
• The new Muller Potgieter Building hosts the student administration teams, including the offices of both the Head of the School of Medicine and the MB ChB Programme Director.
• A magnificent clinical skills and clinical simulation laboratory that would not be out of place in any of the top ten medical schools worldwide, is now operational and used for student training.
• A brand new state-of-the-art anatomy building and dissection facilities were built during 2014 and opened for use during the 2015 academic year.
• In order to increase the exposure of our students to community-based education, facilities and clinical training structures have been built and developed at a number of training sites across the Free State and Northern Cape, including Trompsburg, the Qwaqwa Campus, and Kimberley.

Research as a strategic priority

Research as a strategic priority has also been developed over the past few years, and there has been a significant increase in research outputs; this research focus and productivity will be supported and developed in future in order to maintain and enhance the School of Medicine’s international reputation and academic esteem. A number of international collaborative links with other universities and researchers has been developed, which will both enhance the school’s teaching, research, and clinical practice, and assist with developing and incorporating the most up-to-date trends and practices in all our learning and teaching, research, and clinical platforms.

The future

For the future, the School of Medicine aims to work hard to develop its business and practices that needs attention: in particular that of its student and staff demographic profile; its third-stream income generation; short course development; research productivity; partner relationship optimisation; as well as its human resources and management practices. This is to ensure that it maintains its national and international status and creates redundancy in its business practice. With the strong management team and high-calibre staff currently in the School of Medicine, as well as the excellent clinical academic work that is performed in each of its departments, exciting times are ahead for the School of Medicine. The school aims to produce the highest calibre of students in a research-rich and intellectually rigorous environment, inclusive of everyone. It is an exciting place to work, as it produces the next generation of highly-skilled clinicians and medical physicists.

Head: School of Medicine