(Published in the Irish Independent: Monday August 24 2009)
THE current brouhaha regarding the new medical school admission process is similar to what happened when a similar system was introduced in Australia 15 years ago.
Now it is well accepted and is also used by other countries such as New Zealand. As in most countries, the demand for medical places in Ireland will always far exceed the number available and any selection system used will have winners and losers, and will be controversial.
Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is to be commended for developing HPAT, which is an objective test of generic skills to complement the knowledge examined in the Leaving Certificate.
This is the best system that educational research currently offers and similar processes are used around the world for the selection of medical students.
While using Leaving Certificate results only may appeal to some, it is an intrinsically flawed means of selection since it is simply a test of effort in memorising knowledge.
However, knowledge is freely available these days and it is far better to test students’ generic skills, ie the ability to use the knowledge, as the HPAT does.
DR EDWARD BOYAPATI, MedEntry, Victoria, AUSTRALIA
