The UQMS extends a warm and sunny welcome to all of our International Students from all over the globe - from North America to South Africa, all over South East Asia and even as far away as France. We hope that your time at UQ is an enriching one, a time where your medical studies are coloured with new comrades and adventures in Australia, and where you can look back on these days as some of the most fulfilling days in your medical career.

Gateway Organizations

Oztrekk & Australearn are two gateway organizations that will help Canadian students with their application to the UQ School of Medicine. Oztrekk is recommended due to an established, strong relationship with UQ, and many previous students have utilized them. Do NOT hesitate to contact them about anything concerning the school, tuition, or life in Australia. Links to Oztrekk and Australearn can be found here.

International Pathways is the American organization that assists with the applications to the Ochsner program. Follow through to http://www.mededpath.org/ to start your application or direct you to potential answers.

The International Medical University in Kuala Lumpur provides a pathway for our Malaysian students entering in years 3 and 4. Here is the website for students interested in this option as well as links to opportunities in the IMU facilities.

Finally, the Singaporean Medical Association of Queensland has been recently formed in order to accommodate many health care fields applying for training back in Singapore through MOHH. The SMAQ website is the best point of call for further information.

Your time here in Queensland will both be exciting and full of challenges. Our International Subcommittee, consisting of one elected member per MBBS year and one member elected "At Large" overall, is designated to assist you with your advocacy needs in medical school and to guide you into life and study here in Australia. These members are elected at the UQMS Convenor Elections at the beginning of each year and hold office until the next election round.

Studying med is hard. Studying med in another country can be insanity....but doesn't have to be. So, the UQMS operates a buddy system designed to ease your transition into life in Australia and life as a medical student. Before arriving in Australia, each MBBS I International Student is matched to a volunteer mentor from his or her country of origin (as much as possible) and is encouraged to make contact and suss out what it's all about. Those upper year students that sign up want to help you with as much as they can, so take them up on the offer and get in touch!

You can ask them just about anything - what to bring, what not to bring, what texts you'll need, where to live, how to get a cell phone, where can you access the health service and much more. But it doesn't stop there - this is your ticket to all the secret insider gossip on sitting the USMLE/MCCEE in Australia, how to best prepare for UQ Med Exams (an experience in itself) and keep in touch for a career long friendship.

The International Subcommittee was first established in 2004 in order to better reflect and represent the interests of the growing international student cohort. In its year of inception, the former Head of School, Prof Ken Donald, acknowleged the difficulties that international students would face in future years with respect to training places here in Australia and back at home. This set the direction for the role they would play in advocating for all international student matters.

Since then, the International Subcommittee has grown to be a powerful voice of advocacy with the School of Medicine. Advising and working closely with the UQMS Executive, the group has successfully lobbied for opportunities to do rotations overseas, adherence to contracts in school fees, etc. They have acted as an invaluable source of institutional knowledge of the workings of North American Board Exams, Visas and Permanent Residency issues. Today, the Subcommittee continues to advocate to ease transition into training places in their countries of origin, ranging from MSAT Year IV substitution with USMLE Step II to stratification of rotation order in Clinical Years to better suit core requirements for electives in Year IV.

The UQMS believes there is a social responsibility of the School of Medicine to facilitate measures assisting international students to begin practice and training in their home countries. This is particularly pertinent given the uncertainty of being able to stay in Australia post-medical school training to occur over the next few years. To do this would only reflect positively on the SoM in their vision to become a truly world class Graduate Medical Course.

Medical School isn't just about the study - it's about getting out there and getting out as much as you put into it. There are squillions of avenues where you can participate - by jumping on the International Subcommittee, getting involved with Med Revue, socializing it up at Kegs, and much much more - so our theme to you is ... Just DO IT.