Materia Medica Malaysiana

Malaysian Medical Students Find Australia Exciting

MELBOURNE, March 26 (Bernama) -- Fifty-two medical students from Monash University's Malaysia campus have arrived in Australia to begin their studies.
The students, from Malaysia and Singapore, will be the first group to graduate from Malaysia with the newly created Bachelor of Medicine/ Bachelor of Surgery degree.
Dean of Medicine Professor Ed Byrne said the undergraduate students would spend the next two years studying with their Australian counterparts before heading home to complete the remaining three years of their degrees in Malaysia.
"This is a fantastic opportunity for the students," he said.
"They will follow exactly the same curriculum as Australian students and gain valuable practical experience."
Malaysian student Hakimah Yusop, from Serdang, Selangor, said she was excited to be studying in Australia.
"This course is much more hands-on than those in Malaysia.
"It will give us a lot more practical experience than other students back home.
"Studying abroad is attractive to me because I think it will give me a wider range of experience and ultimately make me a better doctor," she said.
Afif Jamaludin, from Gombak, Selangor, agreed that the strong clinical emphasis was an attractive element of the Monash course.
"In Malaysia, there is a more traditional method of teaching so here in Australia we will gain an enormous amount of experience in just two years, which is great," he said.
"My first week has been very enjoyable, I have particularly enjoyed group discussions which are quite different from the predominantly lecture format of teaching in Malaysia. I look forward to the next two years in Australia."
Hawa Yasir, 21, from Ipoh, Perak, said she was lucky to be studying in Melbourne.
"The lecturers and Australian students are very helpful and friendly," she said.
Hawa said the lectures were easy to follow, but the tutorials were more difficult because the supervisors spoke too fast and she was still not used to the Aussie accent.
She said she was making every effort to improve her spoken English and get a better understanding of Australian traditions and culture.