On center field or at the sidelines? – A plea for a multimodal approach between medical schools and medical student communities while integrating international medical students

2018/11/30 by Timo Astfalk, Danmei Zhang, Astfalk, Timo +7
Health Professions · Medicine · #610 Medical sciences #Curriculumsentwicklung #Global Health Workforce Issues #Innovations in Medical Education #Integration #International medical students #Internationale Medizinstudierende #Medical Education and Admissions #Medicine #cultural diversity #curriculum development #integration #kulturelle Vielfalt #social learning #soziales Lernen

paper · doi:10.3205/zma001207

openalex publication_date 2018/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

An increasing number of medical schools offer support services for international students. Their frequent focus on linguistic and academic support often reflects a rather deficit-oriented perception of international medical students. Therefore, this comment advocates a stronger focus on the integration into the local medical student communities. This happens both against the background of the expected academic benefits and the added value of intercultural learning at medical schools.

Citations

• Cause or effect? The relationship between student perception of the medical school learning environment and academic performance on USMLE Step 1
• International medical students – a survey of perceived challenges and established support services at medical faculties

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• An equal opportunity for everyone?! Supporting international students of medicine at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich
• Welcome, Orientation, Language Training: a project at the Charité for new international medical students
• Studienstart International of the University of Cologne: The closely supervised semester of study entry for students from third countries using the example of the model degree program for human medicine