Since the 2012/2013 winter semester, the University of Oldenburg has offered a model course in Human Medicine through the European Medical School Oldenburg-Groningen (EMS); a cross-border training programme that also incorporates medical State Examinations, and is the only one of its kind in Europe. The German Council of Science and Humanities’ positive vote in 2010 paved the way for this development.

Following the appointment of the founding Dean by the Presidential Board, the sixth School of the University of Oldenburg was founded in August 2012. The School started offering the degree programme in Human Medicine in the winter semester of 2012/13, initially with 40 students.

During the re-evaluation in 2019, which was completed according to schedule, the Council of Science and Humanities praised the well-implemented EMS degree programme in Human Medicine and its impressive range of courses. In addition to the vertical integration and the integration of modern teaching and learning methods, it also highlighted the longitudinal research curriculum, which advances the scientific education of students and contributes to the integration of theory and practice. One of the hallmarks of the Human Medicine curriculum in Oldenburg is that teaching practices are closely involved in the degree programme from an early stage, giving students the opportunity to shadow medical professionals and observe medical processes. In terms of research, the Council of Science and Humanities commended the two research areas of neurosensory science/hearing research and health services research for their particular focus on translation and transfer.

Today, more than 62 professors conduct research and teaching activities within the five departments of School VI Medicine and Health Sciences. The different focuses and characters of the individual departments – from clinical and scientific disciplines and engineering and health services approaches to IT-related specialisations – facilitate exceptional interdisciplinary research and promote a successful interplay between theory, experimentation and application. The School offers several degree programmes, and its Research Training Groups pave the way for our talented junior researchers.

Since the 2022 winter semester, 120 students have started the Human Medicine degree programme at the University of Oldenburg every year. The plan is to expand to 200 first-year students per year. By the summer of 2022, 111 students will have completed their studies in human medicine. In addition, 28 students of the international master's program "Neurocognitive Psychology" were pleased about their successful graduation this year.

Starting in the winter semester 2020/21, the faculty will offer the master's program "Molecular Biomedicine" with 25 study places, which forms a bridge between patient-related/clinical research and basic research. The program focuses on the molecular and cellular aspects of biology with special emphasis on medical issues and problems. Since the winter semester 2021/22, there has been a Master's program in "Health Services Research", also with 25 places, which deals with central issues of health care provision and contributes to the evidence-based further development of health care.

Research at the School VI can look back on great successes due to the close integration of basic research, clinical research and application orientation - for example in hearing research with the Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all or the SFB Hearing Acoustics. Psychology was also highlighted by the Scientific Commission of Lower Saxony as a flagship of Lower Saxony's psychology. Research is being expanded across disciplines and borders by the more than 60 newly appointed professors at School VI, including collaboration between health services research as another research focus and the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health in Groningen as part of the Cross-Border Institute for Health Systems and Prevention.

To the research

Research funding is provided, among other things, through the Research Pool, which supports the development of competitive clinical research at School VI Medicine and Health Sciences. In particular, projects that support collaboration with the Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen (UMCG) and interfaculty collaboration are funded. In addition, three areas of potential have been identified and funded since 2019: Mobile Health, Rare Diseases and Oncology. The potential areas are intended to link aspects of clinical research with the research priorities of the School VI.

To the research funding

Science Bulletin 2022 der Fakultät VI Medizin und Gesundheitswissenschaften

Science Bulletin 2021 der Fakultät VI Medizin und Gesundheitswissenschaften

Science Bulletin 2020 der Fakultät VI Medizin und Gesundheitswissenschaften

Science Bulletin 2019 der Fakultät VI Medizin und Gesundheitswissenschaften

In addition to cross-border medical training, further courses of study in the fields of biomedicine and health services research are available for early career researchers. The English-language master's programs in Neurocognitive Psychology, Neuroscience, Molecular Biomedicine and Engineering Physics strengthen the internationalization of the faculty. The program "Physics, Medicine, Engineering" is the link between the natural sciences and the medical fields of the faculty. In addition, there is the possibility to complete structured doctoral programs entirely in English. Furthermore, interested students can pursue both a doctorate and a scientific career at the University of Oldenburg through various internal funding opportunities for scientists. Here, the doctoral programs Dr. med./MD-PhD., Dr. rer. nat./PhD/Dr. phil., Dr.-Ing., Dr. rer. medic. up to the post-doc phase, including clinician and medical scientist programs, are worth mentioning.

To the promotion of early career researchers

The plan is to further expand the number of places on the model course in human medicine. From the winter semester of 2021/22, 120 first-year students will start in Oldenburg. In the final stage, 200 new students per year are planned. With the further increase in the number of students, the number of professorships and departments will also continue to rise, so that the research strength can be expanded. A special focus will be on strengthening clinical research.

An important goal of the faculty is to intensify the cooperation with Groningen. For this purpose, a new Memorandum of Understanding was concluded between the University of Oldenburg and the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in July 2019, which, in addition to teaching, also mentions research as a further cooperation goal. An outstanding example of this is the Cross Border Institute for Healthcare and Prevention (CBI). In addition to joint cross-border medical training, medical care in the border region is also to be more closely linked in the future.

In order to be able to accommodate both teaching and research well through the professorships already appointed and those yet to be appointed, the faculty is planning the construction of additional space in order to be able to offer optimal conditions for medical education and state-of-the-art research. Construction of the first phase of a research building on Pophankenweg is scheduled to begin in 2024.