The Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES) conducted a visit today to the Local Health Unit of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (ULSTMAD), a partner of UTAD in the proposed integrated Master’s program in Medicine to be established in Vila Real.
Following the meeting with the accrediting body for new courses, Carla Amaral, a member of the rector’s team responsible for the process, outlined the course objectives and study plan, noting the aim to encourage more doctors to settle in the region and shorten the distance to coastal areas.
This is the third submission of the process to A3ES by UTAD.
After previous rejections, Carla Amaral noted enhancements and strengthening in the project by the Trás-os-Montes academy.
The curriculum development involved international consultant Robert Armstrong, along with UTAD faculty and physicians from ULSTMAD, which covers hospitals in Vila Real, Chaves, and Lamego, and 23 health centers.
This collaboration seeks to ensure that students engage with patients and health units from the outset of the program.
The UTAD project envisions admitting 40 students annually, maintaining this maximum number throughout the six-year course.
Amaral highlighted that the curriculum focuses on developing technical and scientific competencies of future doctors, along with emotional skills and patient relationships.
The program will emphasize tutorial teaching, with instructors teaching groups of eight students across all subjects.
Amaral provided an example of a planned unit—Transition to Professional Practice—where a student will accompany a physician instructor in clinical practice over six years.
The project emphasizes humanization and patient proximity, as well as primary and preventive healthcare.
“We have part of the course focused on providing primary healthcare and disease prevention,” Amaral specified, noting this approach suits the region’s aging population.
The curriculum is based on small-group teaching, clinical cases, and simulation exercises involving students from the Theater and Performing Arts course, aiming to establish a simulation center.
“Our students will have the chance in almost all curricular units to develop their skills on simulators, allowing them to practice procedures without fear of error,” she elaborated.
A transport system for students from first to sixth year has been prepared, connecting the university and various ULS health units.
Vila Real offers public transportation, and both UTAD and the Academic Association have vehicles available for this mobility solution, which, if the course is approved, will also involve regional municipalities.
The academy already provides transport for veterinary students as needed.
The project also includes a pedagogical training plan for participating faculty, with scholarships and opportunities created, in partnership with the University of Porto’s Faculty of Medicine, for UTAD’s medical course physicians pursuing doctoral studies.
“Our goal is to specialize the offerings here, shorten distances, and improve healthcare in the region,” Amaral concluded, expressing belief that many new doctors may choose to settle in the area after studying there.
