More Flemish students will be able to start studying medicine or dentistry, as new Flemish Minister for Education Ben Weyts (N-VA) abandons the Federal medicine quotas.
Until 2019, only a limited number of students that passed the entrance exam were admitted to the course, as there were Federal quotas for the number of doctors and dentists Flanders is allowed to supply, but Flemish Minister for Education Ben Weyts (N-NVA) will abandon those quotas.
"As the Flemish Community, we are the only ones complying with the quotas, while the Francophone Community uses fancy words every year but ultimately raises its middle finger," said Weyts in De Tijd.
Everyone who passes the entrance exam is placed in a ranking system first. In 2019, only the best 1,153 students were allowed to start the medicine programme, and the best 147 to start the dentistry programme.
Flanders will start a 'planning committee' to see how many students can be admitted every year. "You can assume that the number will be higher than before," said Weyts' spokesperson to VRT NWS, saying that Flanders will stop complying with the Federal quotas. Weyts wants to implement the new system "as soon as possible".
The quotas have been a topic of discussion for several years, as the Francophone Community keeps exceeding them, according to Weyts.
"This system makes it a sport to reward the bad students and punish the good ones," said Weyts to VRT NWS. "We will not play that game anymore. We cannot keep turning our cheek and say: why don't you hit again. If the other side wants to blow up the federal loyalty, I do not see why we should stay loyal," he added.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
