[Regulation on the admission of new students to medicine or physical therapy sciences at the University of Iceland Faculty of Medicine, no. 1042/2003.]1
with subsequent amendments
| Authorised translation |
1Amended by Article 1 of Regulation no. 1017/2016.
Article 1. Decisions on enrolment restrictions.
[The School of Health Sciences, on behalf of the Faculty of Medicine, shall annually submit a reasoned proposal to the University Council concerning the number of students to be admitted to study medicine or [physical therapy sciences.]2 The School’s proposal thereon must be sent to the University Council before the end of November. The University Council shall process the School of Health Sciences’ proposal no later than in January.
Decisions concerning the number of new students to be admitted each year shall be valid for one year.]1
1Amended by Article 2 of Regulation no. 190/2013.
2Amended by Article 2 of Regulation no. 1017/2016.
Article 2. Entrance examinations.
Entrance examinations shall be held in June each year, as determined in further detail by the Faculty of Medicine in consultation with the [head of the University of Iceland Division of Academic Affairs.]1 The examination shall be held under the auspices of the University of Iceland, and on premises provided by the University.
The Faculty of Medicine shall advertise the examination and publish a specific description of its implementation on the Faculty website.
Students must be specially registered for the entrance examination with the University of Iceland Student Registration before sitting the examination. A certain number, determined in accordance with Article 1, of those students who perform best in the examination shall earn the right to study at the University of Iceland Faculty of Medicine - medicine or [physical therapy sciences,]2 cf. Article 4. Students who earn the right to study at the Faculty of Medicine on the basis of the entrance examination shall commence studies in the autumn semester following the examination. Those who choose not to do so thereby forfeit their right to study at the Faculty of Medicine on the basis of that entrance examination. The student with the next best performance shall then earn the right to study on the basis of that entrance examination. If two or more students perform equally well, both or all of them shall earn the right to commence study in the next autumn semester. [Should the number of people with the right to study increase on the basis of the sixth sentence of this paragraph, and a student then decide to forfeit this right, this right will not be transferred to another student.]2
1Amended by Article 3 of Regulation no. 190/2013.
2Amended by Article 1 of Regulation no. 228/2015.
3Amended by Article 3 of Regulation no. 1017/2016.
Article 3. Registration for the entrance examination.
Students must be registered for the entrance examination before [20 May.]1 Students may be registered despite not having completed an Icelandic matriculation examination. However, the student must have completed an Icelandic matriculation examination or equivalent qualification by the time the entrance examination takes place.
[On the basis of paragraph 2, Article 24 of the Act on Public Higher Education Institutions, it is permissible to charge an examination fee to cover the compilation, implementation and marking of entrance examinations.]2 If such a fee is charged, the amount and the manner in which it shall be collected shall be determined by the central Regulation for the University of Iceland. [If an examination fee is charged, information on the due date of the fee shall be specified on the Faculty website. In case the examination fee has not be paid on or before the specified due date, the right to sit the entrance examination is revoked.]3
1Amended by Article 2 of Regulation no. 1057/2006.
2Amended by Article 4 of Regulation no. 190/2013.
3Amended by Article 1 of Regulation no. 54/2020.
Article 4. Registration for study at the University of Iceland.
Registration of those who sit the entrance examination, in accordance with this Regulation, and earn the right to study at the Faculty of Medicine, must be complete before [20 July.]1 Those who do not earn the right to study at the Faculty of Medicine may nevertheless register, within the same time frame, for study at another faculty, on condition of payment of the registration fee in accordance with the Regulation for the University of Iceland.
1Amended by Article 1 of Regulation no. 107/2016.
Article 5. [Implementation and content of the entrance examination.
[The examination is prepared by the Faculty of Medicine, with the help of special advice from, inter alia, upper secondary school teachers. The entrance examination is held over two days, consisting of six two-hour sections.]4
[To replace conventional interviews, which are widely used elsewhere in the admissions process for new students in medicine, part of the examination must evaluate general knowledge, [verbal reasoning, informational skills and reading comprehension, problem-solving skills,]4 as well as posing questions on ethical considerations. [The worth of this section shall be 30% of the whole. This section shall be multiple choice, but essay questions may also be included in the part on ethical considerations. This section shall not be based on specific course material.]5 [A student must achieve a minimum average grade of 5.0 in questions on ethical considerations.]3]2
[The other sections, worth 70% of the whole, shall be multiple choice.]5 These sections shall be based on upper secondary school course material, as described below.
[The 2011 Icelandic National Curriculum Guide for Upper Secondary Schools is taken into consideration when composing the entrance examination.]4
The Faculty of Medicine recommends that students possess the knowledge and competence required for qualification levels 2-3 in the following subjects:
- Icelandic
- English
- mathematics
- biology
- chemistry
as well as the knowledge and competence required for qualification levels 1-2 in the following subjects:
- physics
- natural sciences
- sociology
- history
- psychology
[...]4
The Faculty of Medicine shall nominate individuals to coordinate the writing of the examination paper, and the marking of completed papers. The dean of the School of Health Sciences shall appoint, having received a nomination from the Faculty of Medicine, an external examiner, or more than one external examiner as appropriate.
Those sections which are not multiple choice [...]2 shall be assessed by the coordinators and the external examiner(s) separately, all of whom shall award a grade independently. The final result shall be the average of these grades.
Grades shall be calculated to two decimal places.
The Faculty of Medicine website shall include a sample of examination questions from each section of the entrance examination, for the benefit of anyone intending to sit the examination. ]4]1
1Amended by Article 5 of Regulation no. 190/2013.
2Amended by Article 2 of Regulation no. 228/2015.
3Amended by Article 1 of Regulation no. 109/2018.
4Amended by Article 2 of Regulation no. 54/2020.
5Amended by Article 1 of Regulation no. 247/2020.
Article 6. [Study programmes in medicine or physical therapy sciences.]2
There is a common entrance examination for programmes in medicine or [physical therapy sciences]2 at the Faculty of Medicine, but different weighting may be applied, with regards to individual examination subjects, to each programme, on the condition that this is specifically advertised. When registering for the examination, students must indicate for which programme (medicine or [physical therapy sciences]2) their paper shall be assessed by ticking the appropriate option.
Other faculties may become party to the examination, in accordance with a special contract between faculties.]1
1Amended by Article 6 of Regulation no. 190/2013.
2Amended by Article 4 of Regulation no. 1017/2016.
Article 7. Entry into force etc.
[This Regulation on the admission of new students to the Faculty of Medicine has been established by the University Council, on the basis of paragraph 3, Article 18 of the Act on Public Higher Education Institutions no. 85/2008, cf. paragraph 9, Article 102 of the Regulation for the University of Iceland no. 569/2009.
This Regulation shall be published in Section B of the Law Gazette, cf. paragraph 1, Article 28 of Act no. 85/2008, as well as in the chapter on the Faculty of Medicine in the course catalogue, and on the Faculty’s homepage.
This Regulation enters into force immediately.]1
1Amended by Article 7 of Regulation no. 190/2013.
Explanatory provisions
[This Regulation concerns an entrance examination to determine admission of new students to programmes in medicine or [physical therapy sciences]3 at the Faculty of Medicine.]1 The term ‘general knowledge’, in the context of this Regulation, is based on this objective and is not limited in itself. For example, the examination will test knowledge on matters of current concern, e.g relating to human factors, history and culture, sociology and discourse on health. [Any essay questions on ethical considerations will be presented as clinical cases or other problems to be solved.]2 When writing the paper, the authors of the examination shall determine in advance where emphasis will be placed, in order to create a framework for grading. [Should a flaw in the examination questions come to light, this will be taken into consideration when grading the papers, not during the examination itself.]2
1Amended by Article 8 of Regulation no. 190/2013.
2Amended by Article 3 of Regulation no. 228/2015.
3Amended by Article 5 of Regulation no. 1017/2016.
University of Iceland, 19 December 2003; last amended by Regulation no. 247/2020.