FACULTY

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FACULTY OF MEDICINE - GENERAL QUALITY
ASSURANCE ASPECTS - University of Ni Prof. dr
Gordana Kocic
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• Faculty of Medicine in Ni was founded in 1960 as
  a government-owned institution of higher learning
  with an aim to realise historical, cultural,
  educational and health care needs of the town of
  Ni as a Serbian regional centre.
• At the Faculty of Medicine, there are four study
  groups
• study group Medicine (course in Serbian or
  English language) 6 year-study
• study group Dentistry 5 year-study
• study group Pharmacy 5 year-study
• new study group profile Faculty of Nursing 3
  year-study

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Up to the present, there wereMedicine (11.786)
Dentistry (3.638), Pharmacy (107)Faculty of
Nursing (161)
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Number of teachers associates
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Activities

• educational,
• scientific-research,
• health care, and
• publishing activity

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Types of studies at the Faculty of Medicine

• undergraduate,
• specialist,
• MS,
• Ph D studies,
• continual education of the faculty,
• scientific research (fundamental, developmental,
  applied, health care),
• professional scientific development of the
  staff,
• international co-operation
• publishing activity.

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MissionTo serve to the general wellbeing of the
society through its educational, investigational
and health care activities.  
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The Faculty intends to expand its mission
through

• more comprehensive integration of educational,
  research and health care activity,
• more active didactic approaches in the teaching
  process, promoting creativity, critical attitude,
  and synthesis of knowledge and skills acquired.
• permanent learning, enabling health care
  professionals to get to know the most up-to-date
  achievements in routine diagnosis and therapy.

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Student selection

• Number of admissions, after the Faculty
  suggestion, is determined by the Ministry of
  Education and Sports, based on the available
  Faculty resources.
• Faculty of Medicine admits the best candidates
  with general high school or secondary medical
  education.
• Admissions are performed through the rating of
  candidates based on the high school success and
  the results at the admission exam (Biology
  Chemistry).

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• Medical studies are performed through 5.475
  classes (theory practice), and dental studies
  through 4.980 classes.
• Educational plan programme are effectuated
  through lectures, practical training, electives,
  seminars, consultations, mentor work,
  professional practice, scientific
  investigational work, colloquia, examinations.

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• Student evaluation based on only one
  student-teacher encounter should be avoided and
  the transparency of the final examination grade
  would be provided. The final grade would be built
  up through the whole study period, acquiring the
  planned number of credits for a teaching subject.

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Research

•  
• Reserch fellows and scientists may individually
  or as a group apply with their projects to the
  Ministry of Science, Technology and Development,
  after the Ministrys regular calls.
• Financial support from the Ministry is scarce and
  insufficient (at present, there are 20 scientific
  projects at the faculty).

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Number of admitted students in the school year
2001/2002
Study group - medicine
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Number of admitted students in the school year
2002/2003
Study group - medicine
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Number of admitted students in the school year
2003/2004
Study group - medicine
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Number of admitted students in the school year
2001/2002
Study group - dentistry
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Number of admitted students in the school year
2002/2003
Study group - dentistry
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Number of admitted students in the school year
2003/2004
Study group - dentistry
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Number of admitted students in the school year
2003/2004
Study group - pharmacy
Study group faculty of nursing
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Graduations in the last three years
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Number of registered specialist-candidates in the
period 2000-2003
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Number of graduated specialists in the period
2000-2003
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Number of registered master degree students (31
fields of medicine and 7 fields of dentistry)
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Number of master degrees obtained
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Number of submitted Ph Ds
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Number of defended Ph Ds
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Studies at the Medical Faculty of Nis are
characterized by its multidisciplinary approach
and endeavors towards the integration into the EC.
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• The Faculty welcomes the ongoing process of
  higher education reform in line with the Bologna
  Declaration, and is willing to participate in all
  the activities that will help the Faculty reach
  European standards.

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• The Institutional Evaluation Programme, which
  entered Serbian universities in the academic year
  2001/02, was the first step that helped the
  Faculty get a good insight into its current
  position, strengths and weaknesses, and thus
  clearly define its priorities, future objectives,
  and modes for their implementation.

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• As part of its own strategic review the Ni
  University Faculty of Medicine has identified the
  reform of its undergraduate medical curriculum as
  a priority area.

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• The system of study undergoes reorganization,
  focused at creating an environment with a
  concentration of resources. It features
• Faculty-operating departments (each department is
  responsible for providing lectures, with
  horizontal/vertical connectedness between courses
• development of uniform principles utilising
  credit system and ECTS
• development of its own information system
  concentarting data in a single database and
  providing necessary information support

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The Bologna Declaration makes explicit reference
to quality assurance including the promotion of
European co-operation in quality assurance, with
a view to developing comparable criteria and
methodologies. 
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The main objective of quality assurance at the
Faculty of Medicine in Nis should be to improve
teaching and learning. Therefore the new Quality
Assurance system must be established as a
permanent system of quality control.
The two main approaches are
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As such, quality relates to the quality of what
is achieved (outcomes) and the quality of how
these outcomes are achieved (systems and
processes.)
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• A proposal for the internal quality assurance
  system at the Faculty of Medicine in Nis was
  prepared including the following elements
•       Students course evaluation
•       Students program evaluation
•       Monitoring of teaching procedure
•       Internal quality evaluation
  (self-evaluation).

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• The objectives of the Quality Assurance System
  at the Medical Faculty should be
• Monitoring and reviewing current provision and
  practice
• Assessing whether current practice is
  satisfactory
• Implementing changes or improvement, if necessary
  

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Based on the Article 219 of its Statute, the
Faculty adopted the Act on the Quality of
Teaching at the Faculty of Medicine in Ni.
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• The Act on the Quality of Teaching at the Faculty
  of Medicine in Ni is based on the following
  priciples
• that the quality assurance system has a student
  focus
• that it is supportive and to assist students
  staff
• that it is open and well documented, with
  information easily available to staff, who can
  participate fully and receive extensive feedback
  
• that it satisfies the quality assurance
  requirements of the university and any external
  quality assurance agency which the university
  must satisfy
• that it is based on the principle that each
  member of staff is responsible for his work
• that the system itself is kept under review

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At the Faculty level the Quality Assurance
system includes different levels -The Dean of
the Faculty is responsible for the quality of
courses internally accredited by the university
and guaranteed by departments, -The Head of the
Department is responsible for the level and the
quality of the respective courses -The course
staff are personally responsible for the actual
performance of teaching activities in accordance
with the plan programme.
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• Departments are encouraged to develop their own
  quality assurance systems which involve
• Registry of theoretical teaching (title of the
  methodical unit, name of the teacher, number of
  lessons and number of attending students)
• Registry of practical teaching (title of the
  methodical unit, name of the teacher, number of
  practical training classes and number of
  attending students)
• Main examination registry (special registry for
  each study group) containing numbers of students
  examined, examination questions and grades
  obtained)

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The Audit Team will comprise 15 members of
full-time academic staff together with 4 students
and a permanent team secretary. The constitution
is as follows

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• The Audit Team of the Faculty of Medicine in Ni
  has the following tasks
• control of actual performance all types of
  teaching activities and examinations
• monitoring of students objections
• anonymous questionnaires concerning performed
  teaching activities
• monitoring of student accomplishments for each
  teaching subject
• monitoring of the proportion of students passing
  or failing exams for each teaching subject
• control of the departmental teaching exam
  documentation

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. The most useful instrument is a questionnaire,
which is filled out by students at the end of
every semester. At present, the questionaire
contains the questions concerning course
evaluation.
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Very often students cannot have a detailed
knowledge of all faculty conditions and
facilities, and their oppinion can be
subjective. We must look for a balanced view.
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The external examiner system Faculty of
Medicine in Ni should clearly define the needs
for the appointment of external examiners in
order to perform their role in quality assurance
system.
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Continuous improvement also implies that quality
assurance systems themselves are subject to
review and, where necessary, to change.