Study Medicine in Greece: 6 Things You Need to Know

Doctors are one of the most sought and pursued out professions around the world not just because of the honor and respect that you immediately get from being one, but also for the fulfillment that you could get from helping people through healing their sickness and saving their lives. That is why they are the ideal role models for the youth especially students because they become their inspirations and later on, students tend to also take their career paths. Even so, students must know that studying medicine requires a full commitment to your degrees and classes, and bare minimum work is not recommended because if you do so, you will most likely drop out of the medical program.

This is the reason why students must consider the country or setting that they plan to study if they are already sure of pursuing medicine as their bachelor’s degree. A good and comfortable studying setting will keep you on track and will help you focus on your main goal of graduating with that degree. You could study in a place where nature and surroundings are magnificent and peaceful or you could go to a place where literature, art, and history are rich so that your mind could continuously focus and be at ease. One country with both features of being peaceful and rich in cultural diversity is Greece. Greece has known for its rich history and a great community for being one of the countries that have early established institutions. They have the oldest records of offering courses and teaching academic subjects to other people. In this article, we will be looking at studying medicine in Greece.

One of the degree courses that they are good at teaching is medicine, aside from art, literature, and philosophy. They have the brightest and most excellent professors in the world teaching any subject that they specialized in. That is why Greece is known to the world as the home of geniuses and industrial revolutionaries because most of society’s advancements started in Greece. To help you get familiar with Greece and you want to pursue medical education here, below are some things that you should know before going to Greece.

1. Can you study medicine in Greece as an international student?

Yes! There are several global or international universities in the country that admits international and exchange students. They also offer other degrees in other fields of study aside from medicine and that is the reason why many of these universities are also a part or member of the Erasmus program. International students are eligible to study medicine in Netherlands.

So, if you are a financially incapable international student, you can also apply for the universities that have this kind of scholarship. Furthermore, with the increasing number of foreign students in the country, most of the institutions have already established international offices for them. Some of these universities are the University of Crete Medical School and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

2. In what language do you study medicine in this country?

Undergraduate students up to graduate students’ language of instruction in Greece is in Greek. It is compulsory to know the language and take additional language courses aside from the courses in your curriculum if you are still not fluent or proficient in Greek. The country believes that learning their native language is necessary, especially if you plan to be a resident doctor and plan to be a permanent doctor in the country.

Learning the language will also help you communicate with your local patients because not all of them know the English language. The University of Crete Medical School is one of the medical schools with this kind of principal requirement, and it is recommended to start learning the language early to study medicine in Greece.

3. How difficult is it to study medicine in Greece?

Having at least a 7% dropout rate of students studying medicine in Greece, it is said to be that the difficulty of studying medicine in Greece is fair. Because this percentage is not too high nor too low for the country to be concerned about. With a little more push from faculties from universities in Greece, the dropout rate could still be improved.

4. What are the components of the medical curriculum in Greece?

The components of the medical curriculum in Greece are not completely different from any other medical curriculum from around the world. It is relatively similar to most universities’ medical curricula having at most three years of theoretical studies in the introduction and general concepts of medicine. After these dreadful memorization years, the other half part of the curriculum which includes basic medical practices, clinical clerkships, and clinical internships which help the students to gain experience from working in a real hospital. In total, the minimum period that you need before you can get a degree in medicine is at least six years.

You can study medicine in Greece in its medical universities. The total number of medical institutions in Greece, both that are solely for medical education and for universities that only offer medical degree programs in the university, amounts to eight institutions. However, this number is enough to get Greece to be one of the countries that gave birth to skillful and intelligent doctors around the world so this number is very sure to still rise.

5. What are the requirements to study medicine in Greece?

The necessary documents needed for studying medicine in Greece are just like the usual requirements that you need to submit to other degree programs. It will only depend if you come from European or non-European countries. Students from non-European countries usually have a greater number of documents needed to submit such as proofs of your identity and nationality to check your authenticity, your previous educational background and supporting documents such as report cards, good moral, and other related documents, and lastly, other application documents such as admission forms, fees, and tests or exams.

Moreover, usually for non-European students and non-Greek citizens, a language proficiency test in Greek is necessary and must be passed to be able to study medicine in Greece. In any case that the student fails this test, he or she must take supplementary language courses in Greek along with the courses in his or her curriculum.

6. What do you need to become a doctor in Greece?

Finishing the 6-year curriculum of your Bachelor’s degree does not end your studying of becoming a doctor in Greece. Once graduated, the conditions to take the exam of the Physicians Association and register to be a member and be an eligible physician. Those who passed the exam will have the right to be medical practitioners in Greece and be considered as an M.D.

 

I hope that this article was helpful. If you are interested, visit the Europe Scholarships Page.