BAU MED Developmental Medical Education Curriculum

BAU Faculty of Medicine is a medical school that aims to make Turkish medicine a global brand in line with its founding mission and its innovative education and research goals. It aims to train our country's brightest students to become the Nobel Prize-winning scientists and physicians of the future, who develop treatments for tomorrow's diseases, approach their patients with understanding and dedication, and provide high-quality healthcare. For this reason, a new and original curriculum has been developed for our faculty, breaking new ground in our country in many respects. We are proud to present the patented BAU MED curriculum, prepared by our Advisory Board, which includes faculty members and administrators from the world's most renowned universities, and by BAU MED's academic staff selected according to the H-index criterion.

The "BAU Faculty of Medicine Developmental Education Program"aims to make the best use for our students of the unique and rich resources of Bahçeşehir University, one of our country's leading educational institutions with nine faculties and campuses in Istanbul and other countries, and of Medical Park, the hospital network with the largest bed capacity in our country. Istanbul, one of the richest cities in our country and the world, also has an important place in the curriculum. The main features of the BAU MED curriculum, which aims to provide not only vertical medical education but also global intellectual development, are given below:

1. The language of instruction of our faculty is English.
2. Students who need preparatory education study at the BAU Washington DC campus, the BAU Toronto campus or in Istanbul, according to their preference. Medical English is taught in the second semester of the English preparatory year.
3. Our faculty, which does not regard medical education merely as vocational training and is aware that the university is a place of knowledge production, enables students to take social courses such as philosophy, art, communication and history at the BAU Beşiktaş campus one day a week during the first three years before clinical rotations begin, with the aim of letting medical students experience campus life together with other faculties.
4. From the first year of study, on Friday afternoons, the topics covered in class that week are reinforced through observation and practice at Göztepe Medical Park.
5. Preparation for the TUS (Medical Specialty Examination) takes place on Thursday and Friday evenings. Although the TUS is not decisive in terms of content and methodology for formative education, success in this exam is recognized as important for students' futures. Preparation activities are held outside class hours in a way that does not require students to leave the campus. This also prevents our students from being occupied with exam preparation in the final years of medical education, when the focus should be on clinical rotations and practical skills.
6. The academic year is longer to allow for more intensive education, with a total of 1,200 hours of instruction in the first year and 1,400 hours in the second year.
7. Because of the importance attached to students benefiting from Istanbul's rich arts scene and to their multidimensional development, time is set aside in the course schedule for Istanbul's music, film and theater festivals.
8. The curriculum taught in the first three years at conventional medical schools is covered in the first two years at BAU MED, and the third year consists of integration blocks that serve as a transition to clinical training; students also prepare intensively for the USMLE Step 1.
9. Based on the idea that leadership in medicine and science comes through scientific collaboration, we aim to offer our students an international network of science and organizations. For this reason, with the help of our study abroad advisor, each of our students is supported and encouraged every summer to conduct research in the area of their interest at international institutions and laboratories, whether or not we have agreements with them.