Curriculum and faculty development as Alfaisal University prepares for medical school opening

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Alfaisal University College of Medicine in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is on schedule to welcome its first students in October. A team from Partners Harvard Medical International (PHMI) led by Dr. Tom Aretz, Vice President of Global Programs, has assisted with several components of institutional planning, including the development of a detailed six-year medical curriculum that utilizes case-based and practice-based learning.

Alfaisal University is a new institution created by the King Faisal Foundation, an organization endowed by the sons of the former Saudi king to promote education in the kingdom. It is one of the first private universities to receive permission to open in Saudi Arabia and one of the few non-profit private institutions in the country. In addition to the medical college, the university will include schools of business, engineering, and science.

In recent months PHMI has conducted two faculty development programs with the goal of preparing faculty in the basic science departments and at the clinical sites. These programs have focused on teaching strategies that stimulate active learning, including tutorials, cases, and other exercises rooted in case and practice-based learning. The leadership at Alfaisal view these staples of medical education as critical to the college’s mission to graduate physicians who are highly adept at critical thinking, problem solving, and lifelong learning.

To this end Alfaisal University is allied with the University Preparatory Program, a highly selective academic program that prepares students to pursue higher education at competitive universities in Saudi Arabia and around the world. The UPP curriculum, taught in English by an international faculty, integrates training in the sciences, mathematics, and information technology. Students follow one of three tracks (business, engineering, or medicine) that prepare them to succeed at the college level. The UPP, currently operated in the Diplomatic Quarter, will eventually be housed on the Alfaisal University campus.

Dr. Khaled Al-Kattan, Dean of the Alfaisal University College of Medicine, said the school aspires to be a student-centered university utilizing interactive educational models. “The College of Medicine will follow a hybrid curriculum with emphasis on problem-based learning and self-directed curriculum, in which patients and problems are studied from multiple standpoints. That will be integrated with other modern methods of teaching such as critical thinking, patient simulation, e-learning, adult learning theories, large and small group study, and tutorials,” he said. The dean added that Alfaisal’s laboratories and resource centers are well equipped technologically and incorporate e-learning tools, which represent a major component of the curriculum.

Dr. Aretz said the physical plan of the university lends itself to intermixing between the colleges of business, engineering, science, and medicine. The crescent-shaped campus features open corridors and centrally located libraries and student centers. The school’s planners hope to take advantage of the proximity of the colleges to encourage cross-utilization of the faculty and inter-disciplinary learning.