Styrian criticism

Medicine entrance test: “No longer up to date”

An acute shortage of doctors and now the subsidized study places are also turning out to be a failure - calls for a fundamental reform are now getting louder and louder in Styria.

This year, 15,158 people applied for 1,900 places to study medicine throughout Austria. Anna Z. was one of the 2123 applicants who took the dreaded entrance test for one of the 388 places in Graz - that was in July: "I spent weeks preparing for day X, got myself a lot of literature, took part in the medical university's preparatory course, and, and, and," says the 18-year-old from Graz.

The test usually lasts eight hours.(Bild: APA/Robert Jäger)

Test from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
After the admission procedure, which lasts several hours, the young woman, who helps out at a doctor's and was head girl at school for years, "didn't have a good feeling", as she says, despite careful preparation: "The Matura was nothing compared to that, the physics and biology questions were sometimes extremely complex. I don't understand why you have to code proteins, for example."

The depressing news came a month later: Anna Z. only achieved 46%, "the threshold was 61% - so I was a long way from passing," she reports disappointedly. "I had an average grade of 1.2 at my A-levels, so such a result is all the more surprising."

Social commitment as a plus 
This is precisely where the criticism of SPÖ parliamentary group chairman Hannes Schwarz comes in: "It is unacceptable that we have an acute shortage of doctors and at the same time turn away thousands of highly motivated people."

The "outdated" system must be reformed: "Social commitment, such as voluntary work in the rescue service or in a care facility, must be given more weight," he says. In the meantime, "complete abolition" could also be considered.

Karlheinz Kornhäusl, ÖVP State Councillor for Health, also sees a need for action in view of the failure of the subsidized study places (as reported, only three of the eight Styrian places could be allocated): "I would like the future federal government to adjust the number of study places to the additional demand."