Years of tuition for medical bachelor’s degree reduced to 5

CAIRO – 2 April 2018: Prime Minister Sherif Ismail announced reducing the number of years required for a student to earn a bachelor’s degree in medicine to 5 years study, Egypt’s official gazette reported on March 29.

Upon the approval of Cabinet and the Supreme Council of Universities, Ismail confirmed amending law 154 which was in effect since 1972, and thus, medicine degrees will be measured by credit hours, and will require 5 years study instead of six.

However, medical students will have to undergo two years of medical training, instead of one, according to the amendment, before they graduate. The decision will be applied on students starting the academic year 2018/2019.

The cabinet had agreed to amend law 154 on October 8, 2017. Minister of Higher Education Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said that medical students will have to undergo an exam before they are licensed to practice medicine. In addition, doctors will have to undertake an exam every five years, he added.