PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The MBBS program at FCMS is committed to provide a distinctive undergraduate educational experience that prepares medical students during their undergraduate studies, internship, postgraduate training, further studies, and specialization.
The program includes required and elective courses, modules, credit-hour requirements, and college requirements together with details of the courses to be taken each year or semester.
The MBBS curriculum includes a six-year annual undergraduate degree program and an Internship Year. It consists of four phases. It applies an interdisciplinary thematic approach, integrating biomedical and clinical sciences with early clinical experience, communication skills, and clinical training at hospitals and other primary healthcare facilities.
The program is structured as an integrated spiral curriculum according to the Saudi MEDs competency-based framework. Its learning strategies include interactive lectures, team-based learning (TBL), problem-based learning (PBL), common clinical presentations (CCPs), flipped class (FC), and tutorial sessions, together with student presentations and small-group learning supported by appropriate clinical experience. Such learning activities employ various delivery strategies at both hospitals and community-based facilities.
The program promotes a culture that enhances teamwork, collaboration, critical thinking, scientific inquiry, lifelong learning, time management, and community service delivery. Those elements are embraced by medical students and recognized as important pillars of effective care delivery in medical practice. In addition, students should recognize that the assessments at various phases of the program are designed to recognize achievements and development of key attributes and qualities rather than rewarding short-term superficial learning.
THE PROGRAM STUDY PLAN
The MBBS program uses a horizontally and vertically integrated annual system with rotations in clinical medicine and preparation for supervised practice.
The program consists of the following components (total of 215 credit hours):
- General required courses: 30 credit hours (26 hours in first Year including one Islamic culture course; 2 credit hours) and 4 credit hours of another two Islamic culture courses (one course in second year and one course in fourth year).
- MBBS courses: 185 credit hours – Spans five years (with three courses in first year).
