Mind the gap between high school and university! A field qualitative survey at the National University of Caaguazú (Paraguay)

Abstract

Paraguay has eight public universities and 45 private universities. The National University of Caaguazú (Universidad Nacional de Caaguazú or UNCA), with its main campus located in Coronel Oviedo, is one of the most recently founded public universities, being established in 2007. The UNCA has launched a project aiming at exploring the potentiality of its educational system, as well as its gaps. In particular, the UNCA wants to assess the effectiveness of preparatory courses for preparing students for admission to the degree course in medicine (Cursos Probatorios de Ingreso or CPI), in order to identify the main strong and weak points of the system, the popularity and usefulness of CPI as perceived by the students, the students’ and teachers’ opinions regarding the limits of school, and their suggestions. This paper is based on a field survey and highlights the care that must be taken in order to develop conditions respectful of the wellbeing of those participating in the educational context.

The transition from high school to university: a medical student’s perspective

“…In our experience, peer support provides accessible informal advice on any aspect of student life. This is further reinforced by the study conducted by Siri et al, 1 which states that students prefer to obtain information from their peers or other students.…”

“…As medical students from the University of Manchester, we read the study by Siri et al 1 with great interest. We believe that the issue raised in this study is of exceptional significance and agree that the transition phase is an important and challenging chapter in one’s life.…”

“…It is therefore important that the transition phase is given more attention and targeted with additional support such as the Cursos Probatorios de Ingreso (“preparatory courses for admission”) in Paraguay. 1 …”

“…As students from a UK university with a significantly lower dropout rate (5%–6%) 2 in comparison to the 57.5% in Latin America, we have identified a number of elements that we found useful in preparing for the transition phase. As highlighted by Siri et al, 1 high school teachers are keen to be involved in the preparation for the transition phase. In the UK, some high schools organize and deliver additional extracurricular career sessions that provide students with individualized advice about getting into and preparing for university.…”

Blending Gagne’s Instructional Model with Peyton’s Approach to Design an Introductory Bioinformatics Lesson Plan for Medical Students: Proof-of-Concept Study

“…However, as the popularity of medical spiral curricula [ 5 ] has gained momentum, bioinformatics needs to be integrated into medical curricula, a requisite that was also highlighted by the Global Organization for Bioinformatics Learning, Education and Training [ 6 , 7 ]. Further, because many medical schools admit students with a high school degree (especially medical schools in the Middle East and North Africa region) who have little conceptual knowledge about sequence databases and in silico analysis of gene or protein sequences, education policies to examine strategies to promote the design of integrated courses, particularly bioinformatics, specifically designed to capture the expectations of medical education in the millennial era by smoothening the learning process keeping in mind the transition of students from high school to university [ 8 ] is required.…”