Photo caption: L-R: Chancellor Susan Hassall and Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley from the University of Waikato, alongside Vice-Chancellor Professor Cheryl de la Rey, Executive Dean of Health Associate Professor Cathy Andrew, and Pou Whakarae Professor Te Maire Tau from the University of Canterbury.
The developing partnership between the University of Canterbury (UC) and the New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine (NZGSM) at the University of Waikato (Waikato) signals the UC’s commitment to health education by creating clear pathways for future health professionals.
The agreement will strengthen medical education pathways, support regional and rural health services, and see the universities work together on research, including the acquisition of joint research funding and the potential establishment of joint centres of excellence.
UC Vice-Chancellor Professor Cheryl de la Rey says the partnership reflects a shared commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for graduates and supporting the health needs of regional communities.
“We’re delighted to offer University of Canterbury graduates a pathway to pursue medical training through this partnership. At the heart of our approach is a commitment to helping future practitioners stay closely engaged with the communities and regions that shaped them, something that is especially important for the South Island.”
UC’s Faculty of Health is introducing programmes such as the new Bachelor of Health, which can be studied online or on campus, to address workforce needs across the South Island. In addition to the Bachelor of Health, UC offers a wide range of health-related programmes across multiple disciplines, further strengthening UC’s position to support students who may later pursue graduate-entry medical training.
Waikato Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley says he is pleased the NZGSM has created a vehicle for the two universities to work together to reduce barriers for graduates to study medicine in New Zealand.
“We are looking forward to working with the University of Canterbury to create opportunities for graduates from the region to study medicine and undertake clinical placements close to home.”
The intention, he says, is that the graduates will then choose to continue to live and work as doctors in their home region.
“Though based at the University of Waikato, the New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine is being designed to produce doctors who will serve in regional and rural communities throughout the whole of New Zealand,” he says.
Outlined in an agreement signed with the Ministry of Health in February 2024, the partnership fulfils a Government objective for the new medical school to foster co-operative relationships with other New Zealand universities, reducing financial and locational barriers for qualified graduate students to study medicine.
Approved by the Government in July, the NZGSM will open in 2028. Its four-year graduate-entry programme will see all students study for one year on the Waikato campus in Hamilton before undertaking three years’ worth of clinical placements in regional and rural communities nationwide.
Graduates with a bachelor’s degree in any field of study will be eligible to apply. Applicants will also need to achieve a minimum grade in the Graduate Medical School Admissions Test, which is a standardised medical admissions assessment that considers an applicant’s background knowledge of science, social science, and written communication.
The NZGSM will be New Zealand’s first graduate-entry medical school. They are the most common model of medical education in Australia and are the predominant model of medical education in Canada and the USA.
This approach has proven to be highly successful in targeting areas with specific need, such as primary care shortages.
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