Safeguarding Academic Freedom in the ‘Masterplan Medical Studies 2020’ (Sicherung der Lehrfreiheit im „Masterplan Medizinstudium 2020“)

Recently, the German government has planned to reform the medical school education system. Under the heading “masterplan medical education 2020” a commission composed of science and health ministers has been developing proposals for practical relevance and reinforcing the proportion of general medicine. Specifically, it is planned to introduce a mandatory rotation of general medicine in the practical year of medical school, which will have to be performed by a general practitioner accredited by the public health insurance. To this end, general practitioners are thought to participate in teaching medical students during the practical year on a voluntary basis. Furthermore, general medicine is supposed to become a mandatory part of the final oral and practical state exam which takes place after the practical year. On this background, the following article addresses the question which specific role the medical schools will have in terms of the constitutionally protected educational freedom for the selection, appointment and quality management of the teaching general practitioners as well as the appointment of the examiners. COMMENT: This article has been previously published in Ordnung der Wisenschaften – OdW 1 (2017) 29-34. [Article in German]