The A’ Department of Propaedeutic Surgery is one of the oldest academic surgical departments of the University of Athens. Throughout the years a well-defined teaching curriculum has been developed and it is regularly reformed to meet modern educational needs and standards. To harmonise with EU standards, the teaching program has adopted modern approaches that include small group tutorials, wide exposure to clinical skills, participation in research etc. The large number of outpatient visits and inpatient stays per year guarantees adequate exposure to a sufficient number and wide range of surgical pathologies and at least a basic standard of technical skills is always achieved.

There is a strict academic to student ratio (1:10), enabling small group sizes and outstanding individual support. Teaching staff is approachable and receptive to student’s concerns.Emphasis is given on interactive teaching and the more direct implication ofstudents in the management of clinical cases. Students have also access to electronic patient records and bed-side teaching is actually conducted.

Seminars and journal clubs are provided on a weekly basis and students are encouraged to present journal club or topic reviews in an effort to be involved as active participants. There is also a strong affiliation between the Dept. and other national and international surgical centres and student and resident exchange is encouraged.

A weekly post-graduate programme including key-lectures and round tables on various surgical and other relevant topics is mandatory for all students and residents. The presentations are given by specialists in each topic and are clearly informative and up to date.

Examinations are both oral and written (MCQ plus short assay-type questions). Bedside examination on actual patients is part of the on-going assessment of the students in their daily training. Exams are performed in such a way that differences between students in final degree grades are determined and priority for further collaboration is given to excellent students.

Efficacy of teaching is performed by student evaluations which are systematically administered.

The Department supports research significantly and collaborations have been developed with other academic and non-academic institutions. Infrastructure support is available at either site and students are offered many opportunities to engage in research in a variety of settings: clinical and laboratory. Most of the research projects are innovative and result in publications in peer-review journals as well as presentations in national and international conferences. Ambitious students are encouraged to be involved in research projects and possibly PhD theses following graduation. The Department’s standard for research has set as a prerequisite that scientific articles producedin the context of PhD Theses are published in journals which are included inMedline (PubMed).