Oceania University of Medicine

[DrRockit]

This is a new overseas university based in Samoa, with a medical advisory board situated in Australia.

http://www.e-oum.net/

They're getting quite a bit of publicity already, since this seems to be the first overseas medical school with a significant Australian component.

http://abc.net.au/ra/pacbeat/stories/s1302313.htm

Internet based training, with a concurrent 'apprenticeship' to an actual doctor to assist clinical skills.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[pitman]

They're getting quite a bit of publicity already, since this seems to be the first overseas medical school with a significant Australian component.

What do you mean by "a significant Australian component"? Yes, it's in Australia, but the charter/registration and degree are Samoan.

btw Dr Rockit, the previous thread is already all about this. Did you join SDN just to re-announce the school?

-pitman

 

[flindophile]

................

 

[pitman]

I don't know man. Tough choice. Maybe go Carib for engineering, they only have a stigma, not online programmes, least of all any Samoans or worse, Jews (avoid them like the plague).

 

[aphasia]

I got a recruitment email from them a couple years ago....

 

[DrRockit]

What do you mean by "a significant Australian component"? Yes, it's in Australia, but the charter/registration and degree are Samoan.

btw Dr Rockit, the previous thread is already all about this. Did you join SDN just to re-announce the school?

-pitman

Sorry, no, didn't notice the other thread until after I had posted.

Howard's McDegrees or whatever didn't immediately seem to be the obvious thread for a medical degree from Samoa (since it seems to have nothing to do with a) McDonalds or b) the Australian Prime-Minister John Howard).

By significant Australian component I simply mean that they have a curriculum team based in Melbourne (which seem to be a large component of their staff).

I'm not advertising the thread, just putting it up for discussion, the merits and negatives of this school should get discussed like every other one.

I've been reading this forum, but with this news being quite popular in Australia right now I finally had something to contribute.

 

[Phosphate]

Sounds a little fishy to me.

Just as long as they pass the AMC exams I wouldn't mind. But I hope that the AMC exams are a good test of qualified persons.

 

[flindophile]

..............

 

[DrRockit]

<All the stuff I agree with deleted>

However, this is all theoretical until the licensing agencies approve. Until then, anyone would be crazy to attend an internet based school.

The thing that's interesting about what these people are doing is that, unlike the caribbean schools, you are actually a qualified doctor in a real country at the end of it. You're a qualified doctor in Samoa, and you can start practising there. I don't _believe_ this is the case with those schools.

The way most regulatory schemes work at the moment mean that if you're qualified in one location, you can move to another provided you pass the new jurisdictions exams.

The point I'm trying to make is I can't see how this degree can be discriminated against because it's online etc... when it's a foreign degree in pretty much the same way as any other.

 

[flindophile]

.................

 

[pitman]

Sorry, no, didn't notice the other thread until after I had posted.

Howard's McDegrees or whatever didn't immediately seem to be the obvious thread for a medical degree from Samoa (since it seems to have nothing to do with a) McDonalds or b) the Australian Prime-Minister John Howard).

Sorry for being testy. In fact, your a) and b) objections were some of what I objected to in the other thread.

-pitman

 

[Winged Scapula]

Foreign degree yes...but if one's goal is to practice in the US, at this time internet based curriculums are not approved for licensing in any state. I am unaware of the current status of these programs in other countries.

 

[Dodger]

I was seriously considering enrolling with the Oceania University of Medicine and then sitting the Australian Medical Council Exams to register in Australia.

OUM claim their course allows graduates to do exactly this, in fact it is one of the major selling points of their course.

I rang the Australian Medical Council (AMC), and they assure me in no uncertain terms that the OUM in NOT accredited with them and that OUM graduates are definately NOT permitted to sit the AMC exams!!!

OUM still make the claim on their Web site though.....

The first OUM graduates will be hoping to sit their AMC exams this September (2006) but as far as the AMC are concerned, they will simply not be allowed to sit for the exams....I'd hate to be one of those poor souls who have paid out $125,000 ozzie dollars or so with the expectation of sitting the AMC exams.

OUM are going to have some pretty curly questions to answer if all of the above is true.

Mind you, there could be some kind of administrative stuff up that supplied me with this information, but it was the AMC themselves, so they should know!!!

 

[escapeartist]

This is what the AMC website says:


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The AMC will recognise graduates from the Oceania University of Medicine, Samoa to sit the AMC examination for the purposes of registration in Australia. Graduates of OUM will be required to have completed all components of the OUM course, including all specified clinical instruction and to have been awarded the OUM degree in medicine. OUM graduates who are eligible to sit the AMC examination will be subject to the same eligibility and progress requirements that apply to graduates of all other recognised medical courses..
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Intending applicants should note that recognition of any medical course by the AMC for the purposes of sitting the AMC examination does not constitute accreditation or endorsement of that course by the AMC. Similarly, such recognition is not an indication that the AMC considers the particular course to be equivalent to fully accredited courses of Australian and New Zealand medical schools..