Volume 197 - Issue 11
Is the Melbourne MD a misnomer?
Authors: James D Best and Geoffrey J McColl
Med J Aust 2012; 197 (11): 617-618. || doi: 10.5694/mja12.11533
Published online: 10 December 2012
Published online: 10 December 2012
In reply: The Melbourne Medical School is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. However, the University of Melbourne awarded medical degrees as early as 1856, including the award of the MD degree ad eundem gradum to the acknowledged founder of the Medical School, Anthony Colling Brownless, on the basis of his MD from St Andrews University, Scotland, obtained by examination in 1847. The MD is ...
In reply: The Melbourne Medical School is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. However, the University of Melbourne awarded medical degrees as early as 1856, including the award of the MD degree ad eundem gradum to the acknowledged founder of the Medical School, Anthony Colling Brownless, on the basis of his MD from St Andrews University, Scotland, obtained by examination in 1847. The MD is a widely recognised medical qualification around the world, and at the University of Melbourne was awarded as a postgraduate clinical practice qualification into the 1960s. It is the subsequent use of the same term for a doctoral-level research qualification that has caused some confusion.
The current MD course at the University of Melbourne fulfils all the criteria of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) for a level 9 Masters Degree (Extended) with the use of the title Doctor of Medicine for the qualification.1 The MD degree is not a doctorate qualification (AQF level 10) and does not confer the title “doctor”, which is endorsed by registration as a medical practitioner. This approach aligns with North America and much of the rest of the world.
We wish to refute several claims made by Hanney in his letter. First, we have not marketed the MD degree as a level 10 doctorate qualification. We have attempted in all MD-associated material to explain the AQF criteria and place the MD in this context. Second, the change in our medical degree is not motivated by a desire for increased revenue: the MD course has fewer fee-paying students and more Commonwealth-supported students than the previous MB BS course, and is likely to be more costly to deliver, as a result of new approaches and settings for learning. In contrast to Hanney’s assertions, there is likely to be a significant financial disadvantage.
The motivation to change the medical course and the degree awarded has been the significant restructuring of the undergraduate curriculum at the University of Melbourne, based on the Bologna Declaration2 and often referred to as the Melbourne model. In this new model, the number of primary degrees was greatly reduced, and profession-related degrees were transformed to masters-level qualifications, including Juris Doctor, Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Dental Surgery, Doctor of Optometry, Doctor of Physiotherapy and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. None of these are doctoral-level degrees, or carry the title “doctor”.
The first cohort of the MD course will graduate in 2014. As with all new courses, there has been close scrutiny from the Australian Medical Council and we have received very positive feedback. Over 150 years, there have been many changes to our medical course and we are sure there will be more to come. We are confident that our new course will continue to provide excellent doctors, equipped to practise medicine at the highest standard in Australia and around the world.
Competing interests
No relevant disclosures.
References
- Australian Qualifications Council. Australian Qualifications Framework. Adelaide: AQC, 2011: 10-20; 57-60. http://www.aqf.edu.au/Portals/0/Documents/Handbook/AustQuals%20 FrmwrkFirstEditionJuly2011_FINAL.pdf (accessed Oct 2012).
- Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education. The Bologna Declaration 19 Jun 1999 [communiqué]. http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/00-Main_doc/990719BOLOGNA_DECLARATION.PDF (accessed Oct 2012).