At this English school of medicine in Mexico, all of the examinations, textbooks and handbooks are written in the English language. The first two years of study are entirely in English except for the clinical practices unit which is learned in Spanish. The curriculum is then gradually altered over the following four semesters to allow for a full transition to Spanish by the fifth semester. The students are gradually trained in the Spanish language during the initial years as they learn the basic sciences. That enables them acquire the necessary proficiency in Spanish required to cover the final parts of the coursework.
In the Mexican medical school system of education students are taught a single basic science or clinical subject for a given number of weeks. This intensive approach is seen as being most effective because the students focus on a single subject at a time. A typical learning day at the UAG School of Medicine consists of five to six hours of lectures and audio-visual presentations, followed by laboratory studies, discourses on precise clinical problems, few-participant personalized seminars, and question-and-answer sessions directed by supervising professors and/or teaching assistants.
The first four years at the UAG School of Medicine are devoted to learning basic sciences, lab work and thorough clinical instruction. The fact that clinical studies are offered from the outset at this English school of medicine in Mexico is substantially different from what happens in similar U.S. institutions, where these studies are addressed after the basic sciences are covered. At the end of the four years, students must pass Step 1 of the USMLE to proceed for internship.
The internship, done in the fifth year of study, has the student being based in a university hospital or an affiliated institution within Mexico or alternatively in Puerto Rico or the U.S. At the end of the period, the student must pass Stage 2 of the USMLE. International students pursue a professional examination that is equivalent to the two stages of the USMLE. Upon passing this stage, a student is awarded the Titulo de Medico Cirujano--the medical Degree of Physician-Surgeon. To be able to access postgraduate residency training programs, acquiring the ECFMG certificate is mandatory. More information can be found at http://www.uag.edu/medicine/med4.htm