Abstract:

Universities around the world are facing increasing number of applicants with a wide diversity of social classes, ethnic groups, academic backgrounds, expectations, vocational goals and also mental health problems, all of them are likely to display difficulties in transition to the University. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are challenged to meet the need to expand opportunities for students, in order to diversify and improve the quality of their learning programs. Furthermore, research suggests that a number of factors are significant in helping or hindering the transition process of students to higher education, and in their development as active learners. In this context, it is the responsibility of every HEI to help students to cope with their new learning environment, in order to reduce the difficulties that they may face and promote more success rates. Student support in education has been emphasized because coaching and counselling, welfare services, activities aiming at social integration, services for students with special needs, and other support measures should be foreseen and provided by a Student Support Office of a HEI. Moreover, Medical Schools are very specific since stress and emotional disturbances among students are relatively common, much associated with the high demands of Medical Education and seemingly, constitute a worldwide problem.
Within the scope of the Center for Medical Education the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto a Student Support Office was raised with a wide range of activities all centred in students needs. These include intervention programmes such as study skills, (inter)personnal developmental programs and psycho-social support, which enable better adjustment, success rates and well-being.
Following the experience achieved in this area, it was extended to a program developed among medical schools which allowed the implementation of Student Support Offices at the Faculties of Medicine of the Universities Agostinho Neto (Luanda, Angola), Eduardo Mondlane (Maputo, Mozambique), and Lúrio (Nampula, Mozambique). This was raised within the scope of the project “A NAME for Health – A Network Approach in Medical Education for the Pursuit of Quality of Higher Education Institutions and Health Systems” with the aim to improve Health Care through raising the quality of Medical Education. This objective is sustained through the development of joint actions which include structural activities in Medical Education, more specifically through the implementation of Student Support Offices, to reinforce the capacity of partner Institutions to improve student academic skills. Within this program the Offices are being created with well defined objectives: to promote specific study skills for Medical Education, to identify and prevent psychological problems of medical students; to promote healthy life styles; to promote (inter)personal development programs, and to develop trans-cultural research programs in the areas of health and psycho-pedagogy. Furthermore, the process of sharing experiences and creating a discussion forum among the Student Support Offices, using a technological platform as a transversal tool to the whole project, will create a network among institutions that can improve the academic success and the quality of Medical Education in Portuguese speaking countries (A NAME for Health is supported by EDULINK Program, Contract nr. 9 ACP RPR 118 # 29).

Keywords:

Medical Education, Student Support Offices.