24 June 2010
International group of dentists to celebrate gradaution
Photo opportunity: 9.40am on Friday, June 25th at City Square. An international group of graduating dentists will be available for pictures before heading to the Caird Hall.
A dozen dentists from around the world, who came to Scotland to obtain a new postgraduate qualification, will receive their degrees during the University of Dundee’s annual graduation ceremony this Friday.
The first cohort of students from the Masters in Prosthodontics programme hail from Malaysia, India, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The two-year, full time taught programme at the Dental School is open to qualified dentists with at least two years experience and a good level of English language.
Prosthodontics refers to the diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and maintenance of patients with clinical conditions associated with missing or deficient teeth using biocompatible substitutes.
A further three members of the cohort will graduate at the University’s winter graduation ceremony, having matriculated after the others. Eleven of the 12 who will graduate on Friday will do so in person, while one of their classmates will do so in absence.
Three of the class will remain in Dundee to undertake PhD study, while the remaining graduates will take what they have learned in Dundee to practice in their own countries. Programme Director Dr Mervyn Lyons paid tribute to the students and said they will bring huge benefits to wherever they end up working.
'They are a very professional group made up of really nice people, and it’s been a pleasure to work with them,' he said. 'They are all very keen to learn, and they have also taught me, and each other, a lot about the culture they come from at the same time.
'It’s been great fun working with them. Getting to know people from different countries is a very valuable experience, in addition to the technical skills they have obtained.
'They are not just nice people though - they are a very talented group, and I’m sure they will do very well, whether they have chosen to undertake more study in the UK or to return to their own countries.
'The course is a two-year, full time professional course which, at the moment, comprises entirely of overseas students. The other thing that is unusual is that it has a clinical component which sees the students treating patients while they are studying.
'It is testimony to the strength of the University’s reputation and our recruitment efforts that we are able to attract such an array of talent from around the world.'
Dr Lyons said that the UK was an attractive place for postgraduate study in medicine and dentistry, and this helped the University’s recruitment efforts. Next year’s class is even more diverse, with students from the five countries represented in the original cohort plus Greece, Chile and Thailand.
The course is delivered in a variety of ways, with teaching in the form of lectures and seminars, technical laboratory procedures, work on 'phantom heads' in an ultra-modern clinical skills classroom and clinical work on patients.
A supervised research project is undertaken in the second year and a bound dissertation is submitted on completion. In this way the course provides a good background for those intending to specialise in Prosthodontics or who intend to pursue an academic career.
This course has received very positive feedback from the present students and a number of applications for 2010 entry have come by way of recommendation from them. There have been four times as many applications as there are available places for next year, emphasising the demand from overseas students.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
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