Learning and Teaching at the Medical Faculty

With approximately 1,800 students – 225 per academic year – Essen has a pleasant family-type atmosphere. By combining academic and practical training, our trainee doctors are equipped to act as self-reliant, independent medical professionals. Dealing with patients on a direct, personal level is just as much a part of our training as is the integration of theoretical and practical knowledge. Our curriculum offerings feature a wide range of subjects – foundational scientific and medical studies, clinical subjects, and disciplines in psychology and sociology. In addition to the human medicine course, the Essen Faculty of Medicine also offers a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Medicine. Our Faculty of Medicine also has excellent connections with the other disciplines within the University of Duisburg-Essen, in particular the Faculties of Chemistry, Biology, and Economics and the Chair of Healthcare Management.

We apply a process of evaluation and quality management to continually improve the quality of our teaching. Even when imparting fundamental knowledge about the structures and functions of the human body, we link this information with clinical content so that we can highlight the practical relevance of acquired theoretical knowledge. In the major clinical subjects we offer intensive instruction in small-group settings. Instead of a large number of individual tests, central end-of-semester examinations are administered between clinical semesters 1 and 3. In scope and nature, these examinations closely approximate final examinations. The SkillsLab, with its highly modern equipment, and the simulated patient programme in our new Teaching & Learning Centre are part of our modern teaching facilities. The practical year can be completed at the University Hospital of Essen or at any one of a total of 16 academic teaching hospitals.