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INPRIMATU
The Basque Government intends to equate the number of places to study Medicine in Basque in the UPV with Spanish
  • Asked whether the UPV/EHU needs more places to study Medicine in Euskera, the Basque Government recently responded that this has to be decided by the UPV. Now, however, the Basque Government has reached an agreement with the public university to offer 40 more places in Medicine for the next course and has asked the rector to go to Euskera.
Mikel Garcia Idiakez @mikelgi 2024ko urriaren 29a
EHU

The UPV/EHU offers 200 places to study Medicine in Spanish and 168 places to study in Basque, all in Spanish. Considering that all places in Euskera are covered, and considering that the health system lacks professionals who know Euskera, EH Bildu recently asked the Minister of Science, Universities and Innovation of the Basque Government: Do you think it is necessary to expand the medical degree places offered in Euskera? The counselor Juan Ignacio Pérez Iglesias has responded very briefly and has not been wet, arguing that "the UPV/EHU has university autonomy for this".

This week, however, the Health Advisor, Alberto Martínez, met with the UPV/EHU Rector, Eva Ferreira, and representatives of the Faculty of Medicine and Nursing. "The Counselor has asked the Rector for additional places to be in Euskera," added the note published by the Basque Department of Health. Therefore, the offer in Euskera would be equated to the offer in Spanish, with 208 seats.

Does it make sense to be a Spanish line?

Despite everything, there are those who argue that the debate should not be placed in the number of places in Euskera and in the number of places in Spanish, among them the physician Aitor Montes. In his words, "medical students do not have the right to study only in Spanish, to graduate as a monolingual doctor in a multilingual context." The Public University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea has the obligation to "create competent professionals to care for patients in both languages, Basque and Spanish". For Montes, the Medical School of the UPV/EHU must have a single model, in which students will necessarily have subjects in Basque and Spanish, and they will learn English because "there is a lot of international knowledge in this language".