New rules for the final exams for students in the Dentistry Degree have been introduced. The Ministry of University and Research published a Decree (653 of July 5, 2022) defining the operating rules for the Dentistry qualifying exam and the practical internship.
The first innovative rule concerns the exam. It will be a qualifying exam and will focus on the professional competences students acquired during their internship.
The second innovation is related to the mandatory evaluative practical internship. This internship will be worth 30 ECTS, which students can gain only by performing tasks as “first operator”, thus being under a professor-tutor direct supervision. The latter will have to attest the students’ internship and the Degree Course President or Coordinator will have to validate it.
The internship will therefore become the core. In Decree 653/2022, it is defined as a “professionalising training pathway aiming at acquiring specific diagnostic and clinical-therapeutic skills and abilities” and “an integral part of university education.”
This new regulation also describes the composition of the qualifying exam Judging Commission. It will include members from the University and from the Professional Register. The Commission will be composed by at least 4 members. Half of the members will be university professors. Among them the chairman of the Commission will be chosen. The other half of the members will be nominated as National Dentistry Register Commission.
Through the new evaluative practical test, it will be possible to assess the professional skills students acquired within the internship period included in the degree course. It will also allow students to have a practice licence with the aim of facilitating Dentistry students’ access to the world of work.