RUCA and UIA

Antwerp started offering university degree programmes in 1965 in a context of academic expansion and the associated democratisation of higher education. From that moment on, it was possible to study Medicine, Surgery and Obstetrics in Antwerp and a three-year candidate programme for Medicine was set up at the Rijks Universitair Centrum Antwerpen (RUCA).

Doing a PhD in Medicine became possible in Antwerp in 1971, when the Antwerp University Institute (UIA) was founded.

Training to become a medical doctor

1991 saw the introduction of important new Flemish legislation on university education and the resulting transfer of educational responsibility from federal to community level. Flanders began to seek closer ties with the Netherlands and the Medicine programme then became a training programme for medical doctors, comprising three candidate years and four years of residency.

Europe

Flanders began to implement the principles of the Bologna process in 2003. The medical doctor programme took on a Bachelor-Master structure of three Bachelor years (180 credits) and four Master years (240 credits). The number of Master years was reduced to three (180 credits) in October 2012 and this brought the medical training programme to a total of six years, in line with most other European countries.

Extending the range of programmes

For many years, the medical training programme was the faculty's most important course, but the range of programmes has gradually been extended, comprising today Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy (Bachelor & Master course), Nursery and Midwifery (Master course) and Epidemiology (Master course), as well as several Advanced Masters and Postacademic Programmes. The faculty counts over 3500 students.

As a natural result of its expansion, the Faculty of Medicine was renamed the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences on 1 October 2011.