About IMS
The IMS MD curriculum combines basic science and clinical activities within a six-year program taught exclusively in English. The main objective is to train excellent clinicians and researchers, capable of actively contributing to the improvement of human health. Leadership, passion for innovation, clinical experience, ethical judgment, self-awareness and respect for others’ values are key strenghts . We also strive to promote individual interests and strengthen the unique potential of each student so that he/she can achieve professional independence and excellence.
The IMS curriculum has been carefully devised and adapted during the years to be clearly distinct from the curricula of the other Italian MD programmes. Distinctive features of the MD curriculum include:
- International profile, with lessons held in English by Italian professors, enhanced by visiting professors – from leading European and North American universities.
- Innovative teaching methods, problem-based learning through structured training, small groups and discussions of clinical cases. The school will also offer exchange programs with foreign universities, which is seen as a key ingredient in enriching the learning experience.
- Highly integrated curriculum, with teaching activities and classes divided into blocks from the first year, and specially- designed programs of integrated content for a limited number of students.
- Research focus, through the early experience in research laboratories, the students will be early exposed to the content and methods of scientific research as a tool to approach the clinical field in the context of a translational training: “from bench-to-bedside” and vice versa.
The teaching at IMS is organised across different levels. More traditional activities such as lectures and seminars are enhanced by more modern approaches involving interactive learning and other tools.
A lecture is the presentation by the teacher of the course content regarded as fundamental for the acquisition of the basic knowledge in a given discipline. A seminar is similar to a lecture but is jointly conducted by a number of teachers with different skills, and annotated as such in the register of the lessons taught by each of them.
Interactive teaching activities geared towards a small group of students and coordinated by a tutor, with a view to facilitating the students in acquiring knowledge, abilities and behavioural models. Learning mainly takes place through the stimuli from the analysis of problems finalized to their solution through adequate decisions. Interactive learning includes: problem based learning (PBL); clinical cases discussion; journal clubs; Medical Humanities laboratories. Also, interactive teaching takes place in the clinical wards and laboratories, with the assistance of qualified university or hospital professionals.
Selected activities of different types whose attendance is also compulsory. Such activities should be tailored to education to basic research in the first 2 (pre-clinical) years and to translational research in the following years. Elective courses can be configured as seminar type courses, internships, participation in conferences and congresses or accredited ‘summer internships’.