Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (FMBS)
Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (FMBS)
Mission and Institutional Objectives
The Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is a department of the University of Yaounde I. Its mission is to train top-level healthcare professionals who are ready to work in national and international contexts. However, its role extends beyond the training of general practitioners. It also trains several other healthcare professionals, including specialist doctors, pharmacists, dental surgeons, biomedical technicians and healthcare assistants.
Graduates are versatile practitioners with a sound scientific background and a focus on public health. Depending on their specialization, they can provide healthcare services in the areas of diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and health promotion. They are also able to make recommendations aimed at preventing individuals, families and the community, as well as contribute to health education for patients and their families. They must be able to organize ongoing training and refresher courses for healthcare staff. Lastly, they must contribute to the advancement of health sciences through applied and fundamental research.
Training Guidelines
The innovative course content remains based on six pillars.
Established in 1993 under the university reforms, this institution at the University of Yaounde I succeeded the University Centre for Health Sciences (CUSS). From the outset, CUSS’s innovative course content attracted the attention of the international community and prompted UNDP to fund a medical school for the first time, in partnership with WHO. Despite the change in name, the six key principles that laid the foundations for CUSS still form the basis of the FMBS’s curriculum today:
Training staff on site in real-world ecological settings, ensuring that the priority health issues selected for study are relevant;
The training targets not only the individual’s health, but also family and the community health;
Multidisciplinary training of healthcare teams; Integrated education;
Integrated education;
The need to lay the foundations for relevant operational and fundamental research;
The desire to combine different teaching traditions and promote bilingualism.
Skills development
The FMBS’s current programmes are based on a competency-based approach. Such competencies are clinical expertise, communication, collaboration, independent learning and professionalism. For medical doctors, clinical expertise is the core competency that makes them stand out from other professionals.
