On September 29, 2011, Semmelweis University hosted a delegation of high-level Taiwanese civil and public servants as part of their European study tour. The visit aimed to provide an overview of the Hungarian system for medical training, further education and specialisation. Led by Oliver Yoa-Pu Hu, Minister without Portfolio, the delegation also included various representatives of Taiwan’s Examination Yuan. Wellington Shih and Carl Liu from the Taipei Representative Office in Hungary attended the meeting as observers.
The Taiwanese delegation was received by Vice-Rector Róbert Langer, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Zoltán Zsolt Nagy, President of the Doctoral Council Károly Rácz, and Director of International Relations Marcel Pop.
Following an introductory presentation of Semmelweis University, Vice-Rector Róbert Langer outlined the general structure of medical education in Hungary. He identified the biggest challenge in recent years to be the question of whether to adopt the Bologna process – already accepted by several European nations – in the training of medical doctors, adding that all four medical faculties in Hungary consider the classic six-year M.D. programme to be indivisible.
Professor Károly Rácz responded to questions from the delegation regarding the specialist training of newly qualified doctors, while Professor Zoltán Zsolt Nagy presented the oral, written and practical examination system in place at the University’s Faculty of Medicine.
At the end of the meeting, Professor Nagy, who has already been to Taiwan on official visits, expressed his hope that more Taiwanese students will join the ten that currently study at the University, whom he characterised as diligent and hard-working. Minister Hu responded in kind, stating, “Where there are good teachers, there are good students; without good teachers, there can be no good students.”
Orsolya Thurzó
Translated by Gina Gönczi