Provision of Medical Education in the North of Australia

98/19

Prepared by KPMG Health Care & Life Sciences

On behalf of
The Flinders University of South Australia
The University of Queensland

October 1998

Evaluations and Investigations Programme Higher Education Division Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs

©Commonwealth of Australia 1998
ISBN 0 642 23808 1

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without permission from AusInfo. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Manager, Legislative Services, AusInfo, GPO Box 84, Canberra ACT 2601.

 The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

Background

The James Cook University and the State Government of Queensland have proposed the establishment of a medical school in north Queensland, which has an emphasis on the provision of medical services in rural and remote areas. The medical school would be open to school-leaver applicants from northern Australia. The University of Queensland (UQ) and The Flinders University of South Australia (FUSA) currently have clinical schools in north Queensland and the Northern Territory respectively. These schools are associated with graduate entry medical courses.

The Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) supports the objective of the James Cook proposal to increase recruitment and retention of northern Australian students into medicine, but it is concerned that a range of options to address this is canvassed. In particular, it is concerned about the efficacy of adding new infrastructure, given the level of medical education infrastructure already available across Australia. The Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services (CDHFS) is also concerned about an increase in the number of students enrolled in medical schools.

This current study was funded by DETYA through a grant to FUSA working with UQ to explore options for the delivery of medical education in the north of Australia from within existing arrangements. It investigates viable alternatives to the James Cook University approach involving collaborative models with existing providers and use of advanced delivery technologies.

The goals of the project as established in the original brief are to investigate:

• how the medical schools of The Flinders University of South Australia and The University of Queensland can together (using advanced delivery of technologies) ensure the best provision of medical education and medical care in the north of Australia; and
• whether other tertiary institutions in the region can be usefully involved in this provision and, if so, how.

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