Keywords: Medical Education, Family Medicine, General Practice

Background:

The presence of family medicine (FM) within undergraduate medical education varies widely across Europe. To study how FM is taught, a necessary first step is to identify the number and distribution of medical faculties in the countries of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), including their relation to population size and whether they are publicly or privately owned.

Research questions:

How many medical faculties exist in each EHEA country? What is the ratio of population per medical faculty, and how does this vary between countries?

Method:

We conducted a descriptive study based on secondary data. A list of EHEA countries was obtained, and the number of medical faculties per country was compiled from official governmental and educational sources. Population estimates for July 2024 were taken from United Nations data. We calculated the population per faculty in each country and analyzed variability across the region.

Results:

A total of 728 medical faculties were identified across 44 EHEA countries. Countries such as Georgia and Armenia had the highest number of faculties per capita , with up to 6 faculties for million inhabitants, while others like Germany and Turkey had the lowest, with less than one. Significant disparities were observed, ranging from one faculty per fewer than 300,000 people to more than one per 3 million. School ownership also varied, with some countries having only public/state universities and others only private institutions.

Conclusions:

This mapping of medical faculties offers a valuable baseline for exploring teaching in medical schools and the integration of FM in undergraduate curricula across Europe. The variation in the number of faculties per population highlights important contextual differences that may influence how general practice and family medicine are represented and taught.

Points for discussion:

What contextual factors might explain the wide variation in the number of medical faculties per population across EHEA countries?

What would be a feasible and valid method to assess the actual presence and quality of family medicine teaching in such a diverse educational landscape?