The Platform for Monitoring Access to Medicine is an initiative by the Planning and Evaluation Office (GPA) and originated in the use and integration of data worked periodically by this office relative to access to Portuguese medicine courses and an operationalising of internal databases and those of the University of Lisbon (UL). This publication is a pioneer work in the UL as it allows one to see a national ranking (access to Medicine) counterpoising results from one faculty to other similar institutions on the national level. The aim of the platform is to identify indicators that allow one to (i) see the profile of students admitted as to their district of origin, gender and choice of the FMUL as their first option, to their entrance marks and also (ii) to compare the characteristics of entry in relation to the selection criteria, to their preferences and to the marks obtained by the candidates and by those admitted among Portuguese faculties of medicine.
In order to achieve these aims we consulted the data available on the Higher Education Integrated Management System (SIGES) and General Directorate of Higher Education – Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (DGES_MCTES) relative to the first phase of placement for candidates to higher education.

The indicators presented on the monitoring platform for access to the FMUL between 2000 and 2009 are no use for predicting the degree of success during the path through higher education.

The selection criteria used in Portugal, based on application marks, are influenced by several intra- and inter-personal variables in which school and family interferences play a part.

Those valorizations tell us nothing about the approach to learning used by the students admitted, who can opt for one or more types of models of learning styles, “Tripatite” and Kolb. Also, the characteristics of the personality of those admitted are unknown because they do not do (controversial) specific tests, questionnaires are not applied and there are no mechanisms for holding interviews in which one might see the maturity of social and interpersonal development. There are other factors of personality and behaviour, namely the capacity to overcome difficulties and setbacks, and states of anxiety and awareness, which we also do not know.

The current selection process for medicine faculties in Portugal is the responsibility of the government. Any model of access that might contemplate the several different qualitative factors of personality and behaviour, of skills and aptitudes, would be demanding in terms of guaranteeing quality and would require appropriate instruments adequated to the attributes one intended to grade.

Coming back to the indicators on the monitoring platform for access to medicine in our faculty, for the first phase of applications, in Fig 1, one can see that after the marked decrease in candidates in 2006 and 2007 there was a marked increase in the following years up to the same number of candidates, which remained at 295. The year of 2007 is associated to the reduction in the percentage of candidates and students admitted who chose the FMUL, with the same reduction in relation to the choice as a first option. So if we exclude 2007 the percentage of students who place the FMUL as a first option it has not varied significantly between 2000 and 2009, Fig 2,3. However, in 2007 the second option reached a higher value in relation to preceding and following years, Fig 3.

Concerning the distribution of those admitted by gender, there are considerable differences, with a predomination of females (above 60%) in relation to the males, with values between 30 to 39%, Fig 4.

As for the district of origin of those admitted since 2005, with the exception of 2007, the majority (>50%) come from Lisbon, Santarém and Setúbal, Fig 5, with there being almost total representativity from all the districts in the country when the students were distributed by their first option, Fig 6.

If we consider the marks of the first 100 students admitted in the FMUL, the average and the median did not vary in 2008 and 2009, and the highest and lowest marks also remained the same, Fig 7.

In comparison with the other medicine faculties in Portugal, namely with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra (FMUC), the FMUL still has the highest numerus clausus, Fig 8 and the highest marks for the lowest entrance mark (160), Fig 9. According to these selection criteria, the FMUL is equal to other Portuguese medicine faculties in relation to the highest mark obtained by the candidates, but is higher than them as to the lowest entrance mark, Fig 10.

The FMUL is in fifth position relative to the other seven faculties for two consecutive years in relation to the mark of the last student admitted, Fig 11. Considering that we have the highest numerus clausus, Fig 12 shows that in 2008 the mark of the student placed last in the University of the Inner Beira (UBI), University of Minho (UM) and Faculty of Medical Sciences of the New University of Lisbon (FCMUNL) is lower than that of the student in a corresponding position in admission to the FMUL. A similar profile of positioning was observed in 2009, with the addition of the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS), in which the mark of the last student admitted was lower than the one admitted to the FMUL, Fig 12.

Through the results presented in this platform one can see the consolidation of the recovery in 2008 in the choice of the FMUL in order to follow the Integrated Masters in Medicine by the students mainly from the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region.

Greater representation of females is a constant over nine years, with the FMUL not having the problem of the minority which is so frequent in other countries. The marks of the first 100 students admitted are still high, above 180 (on 200), with the FMUL being the higher education institution offering the greatest number of places. It should be remembered that a contingent of students enters the Integrated Masters already as graduates (specific regime for admission for degree holders) the characteristics of which and success rate of which are also monitored by the GPA. As to Expectations and Motivations on the part of students placed in the first year, the results of the study carried out since 2004-2005 until now are available, thus complementing this platform and giving rise to further reflections.

GPA – Pedro Marçal, Nuno Rodrigues, Carlota Saldanha
gpa@fm.ul.pt