A group of Iranian graduate dentists from the Centro Escolar University, a private university in the Philippines, has complained to the Ministry of Health over the “long process of evaluation of their academic certificates and issue of permits to establish clinics.”
Health Minister Seyyed Hassan Hashemi, said dentistry graduates from foreign universities are assessed by a national test and have to undergo an additional two-year study program, the Persian-language Iran newspaper reported.
He said graduates in medical, dentistry and pharmacy programs from foreign universities in the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Malaysia, Turkey and Philippines are the most problematic in medical education assessment. The ministry reviews quality of education and validity of foreign universities before granting approval or de-recognition of the academic certificates.
Secretary of the Council for Dental Education, Saeid Asgari, said the additional study period takes about 18 months. If a student is eligible for the national test, he will be granted concession.
While the students agreed to take the national test, they, however complained that two more years of academic study “is a waste of time.”
Earlier, the Education Department at the Health Ministry had stated that only graduates of foreign universities approved by the ministry are permitted to take the evaluation test. The directive on graduate dentists of the so called invalid universities had not changed, it said.
“We were not informed that the CEU from where we graduated is excluded from the list of universities recognized by the Ministry of Health,” said one of the students. The previous year’s graduates from the university were not asked to do the national test.
The Centro Escolar University was established on June 3, 1907 by Dona Librada Avelino and Dona Carmen de Luna for the instruction and training of youth in all branches of the arts and sciences. The pharmacy college opened in 1921.
The colleges of liberal arts, education and dentistry followed. Later, the College of Optometry was established.
