Curriculum : Faculty of Medicine
The School aims to train doctors and medical researchers who will lead Japan and the world. The 6-year curriculum covers the entire spectrum of medical science in a wide-ranging manner, from the very basics to the cutting edge.
Basic Medicine includes the study of life sciences, together with anatomy, physiology and pathology. Courses in Social Medicine include epidemiology, public health, environment and biostatistics. Clinical Medicine involves the study of basic theory (lectures) and practical application in the healthcare delivery point (clinical training) in all areas of clinical medicine, namely internal medicine, surgery as well as pediatrics, gynecology and obstetrics, psychiatry, critical care.
Year 1: Introduction to Medical Education
The core of the Year 1 curriculum is the Liberal Arts and General Education Courses.
Kyoto University comprises many faculties. Students study a wide range of subjects in the humanities and social sciences, natural sciences and languages so as to develop their basic intellectual capacity and acquire academic knowledge that would serve as the foundation for future study.
Other courses taken are Lab Rotation, in which students learn research skills in an actual laboratory that would provide a grounding for a future doctor or medical researcher, Early Clinical Exposure, in which students acquire communication skills through practical voluntary work in medical establishments.
Year 2 to Year 4: Medical Education
In Year 2, together with the Liberal Arts and General Education Courses, Clinical Communication (communication-based, including making presentations in English) is taught as part of the Faculty of Medicine’s curriculum. The special aspect of the medical education of the School, which starts fully in Year 2, is its LEVEL/SYSTEM system. In the courses based on traditional academic disciplines (i.e. anatomy, physiology, pathology), students first of all undertake a lateral study of the structure and functions of constituents (LEVEL) of the human body such as the molecule and the cell. They then proceed to a deeper study of the functions and pathology (SYSTEM) of human organs. Besides specialist medical knowledge, students learn about the importance of the ability to communicate with patients and the importance of team medicine. In the autumn of Year 4, students embark on the My Course Program, which is a period of time set aside for independent research. Students are assigned to world-class laboratories at Kyoto University or academic or research institutions overseas where they concentrate on research activities under guidance and advice from faculties and tailored to individual student’s aptitude. The research findings from the My Course Program are often presented to international conferences.
Year 5 to Year 6: Clinical Training
In Year 5 and Year 6, students undergo clinical training, working in hospitals. Kyoto University has many affiliated hospitals that are large key regional hospitals.
Students undergo clinical training in the Kyoto University Hospital as well as in these affiliated hospitals. In training, students rotate around all the clinics, obtaining on-the-ground training in clinical practice. They are taught in small groups under the guidance of supervising doctors with rich clinical experience and in a well-coordinated system with community healthcare institutions. What is also special regarding Kyoto University’s clinical training is that students can experience frontier medicine in clinical practice, in organ transplant as well as molecular therapy/regenerative medicine. Active support is provided for those students wishing to receive clinical training in overseas academic and medical institutions, which encourages the training of doctors with a global focus.