How hard is it to get into Oxbridge?

阿飯

Ridiculous though it may seem, a bunch of doctors with British professional qualifications and trained in the British tradition is pondering the validity of such training that had put them there in the first place. Contradicting as it may sound they also like to invite external examiners from England or other western countries to let the world know that their own trainees are on par with the standard elsewhere in the commonwealth. Absurd as it may look they still value and use the same professional qualifications that their very local trainees are aiming at . Such schizophrenic mindset however is not very staunch in its principle for a mere letter from the great Donald Duck could easily reverse it and put on hold the practice it operated. No professional organization genuinely overseeing and safeguarding standard in the interest of the public in the commonwealth would succumb this way, blatantly betraying its principle unless you believe that the standard from the rest of the commonwealth bobbles like a buoy after the handover and it takes a great and astute political figure like Donald Duck to tell them otherwise.

Plenty of excuses are abound but they all require some form of pretzel logic for them to stand to reason. Protectionism is fine as long as it serves the best interest of the public and I really don't see the very few local graduates from reputable medical schools overseas who have gone through similar if not better training and well-versed in the local lexicon ( afterall they are from HK and it doesn't take long for them to adapt ) to perform differently from their counterparts here at least under supervision in a hospital settings - unless they have some highly confidential and compelling statistics since the handover to prove otherwise. The fear of competition seems to be the root cause for such unfair discrimination -  heard of the expression 出前一丁 from some private practitioners in the leans days ? I also remember the story a few years back when a dignitary from SE Asia had flown in specially for the professor of Orthopaedics from Stanford who was on sabbatical leave at HKU to perform a knee replacement operation and the arrangement was all hunky-dory until the last minute when it was all called off and a replacement was made with a locally famous surgeon instead who had made a qualm - the reason being at least on paper that he was not fit to practise under the provisional registration he held at that time ( but it was not such a problem in a teaching capacity whilst at HKU ). In the end the infuriated dignitary had to be pacified by the professor that the standard and reputation of his substitute is just as good to allow the operation to proceed.

The increasing amalgamation with the mainland economically and politically will ultimately destroy what very little autonomy and British legacies we have been enjoying and taking for granted and at the pace at which the administration is trying to dismantle the last few prestiges that set us apart from the mainland and making up excuses in the process for further integration with everything mainland I have to mull over that indeed it wasn't a planned move to deny us the opportunities to set things right - which include the acute shortage of doctors we are facing now in the public sector. It just needs excuses in a stepwise fashion for changes and acceptances to finally occur and foolishly or unknowingly the GMC here may be a willing accomplice to this end. Precedent and a volt-face had been seen before with it and I don't have much faith why it would not buckle again. After all the people who sit there belong to the same bunch who acquiesced for the centenary fiasco at HKU recently and they are not known to be steadfast when it comes to integrity.

Let's hope the GMC is not doing us a disservice.

11Daddy

"Such schizophrenic mindset however is not very staunch in its principle for a mere letter from the great Donald Duck could easily reverse it and put on hold the practice it operated. No professional organization genuinely overseeing and safeguarding standard in the interest of the public in the commonwealth would succumb this way, blatantly betraying its principle ......" It seems Donald Duck's son is more equal, may I be enlightened the rationale behind?

Shootastar

回復 阿飯 的帖子

"Let's hope the GMC is not doing us a disservice."

To be honest, I have no trust and faith on GMC on what it had done in our medical education. I remember that in early 2000, both medical schools were forced to cut their spaces to 125 because the GMC said there were too many doctors despite the strong opposing voices from both deans. Their protectionism and shortsightness leads us to the point that we are substantially short of doctors. It helps create the terms "月球人" and "星球人" - meaning a doctor earning one million (一球) in a week or a month. The population of Singapore is about 60% of ours but it has 3 medical schools with a total annual intake of about 500 medical students. Further Singapore still allows graduates from Australia, UK or other spaces to practice in Singapore, With the spaces extended to 210 commencing this year, we can only produce 420 medical doctors annually. I can foresee that the problem of shortage of medical doctors would still go on unless the GMC changes it ridiculous policy - by setting a very very high bar in its licentiate examination.

11Daddy

I can foresee that the problem of shortage of medical doctors would still go on unless the GMC" changes it ridiculous policy - by setting a very very high bar in its licentiate examination."   clap hands

4eyesDad

For the third year in a row, Oxford this year received more than 17,000 applications for its undergraduate courses.
About 11,000 of the applicants are invited for interviews at Oxford in December 2012 to compete for about 3,000 places.
Interviews are only one part of the selection process at Oxford: academic ability and potential is assessed through a range of measures in addition to interviews, including predicted grades; attained grades; personal statement; teacher’s reference; and aptitude tests.
The interviews are designed to push students to think, not recite specific facts or answers.
My source told me that HK students are typically strong in reciting facts but weak in other aspects, especially thinking.

slamai

The results (offers) for Oxford applicants are out now.

11Daddy

Each interview was conducted by 2 professors. ( Actually they are the potential tutors of your D and S. I believe whether the potential tutors consider that the applicant can communicate effectively with them is an important consideration. )