Master's degrees in medical education
Dear Sir
It is with interest that we read the article by Cohen et al. on Master's degrees in Medical Education (Medical Teacher, 27(8), pp. 686–692). The overview of the programmes in medical education in the English-speaking world and the Netherlands will be of great value to those planning to undertake a master's degree in this field. It may be of relevance to some readers that there is a comparable programme conducted in English and German, which has a decidedly international focus, namely the Master of Medical Education programme in Bern, Switzerland.
The programme was developed by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bern in cooperation with the Department of Medical Education at the University of Illinois, Chicago and was introduced in 1999. Six of the 11 modules (each of six days’ duration) are held in English, the remainder being in German. The English language modules are also offered separately for non-German-speaking participants. The programme takes two years, consists of 11 weeks’ face-to-face study and results in the degree ‘Master of Medical Education’ (for further details please contact [email protected]).
The teachers include internationally recognized experts such as Georges Bordage, Wim Gijselaers, Henk Schmidt, Ara Tekian and the late Miriam Friedman Ben-David.
The MME Bern was the first programme in the German-speaking world culminating in a master's degree in medical education. Many graduates and current participants have gone on to become agents of change in their respective countries. This is exemplified for example by the development of a new Master of Medical Education programme in Germany in 2004. Also, the ‘Ars legendi’, Germany's highest accolade in Medical Education, was recently awarded to an MME (Bern) alumna.
Soeren Huwendiek
Department of General Pediatrics,
University Children's Hospital Heidelberg
Germany
E-mail: [email protected]
Christian Scheffer
Faculty of Medicine,
Integrated Studies of Anthroposophical Medicine,
University of Witten/Herdecke
Germany
E-mail: [email protected]