news bites: Student affairs

Zimbabwe plans to detain key talent The Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, is considering conscripting graduates into the civil service to stem the brain drain that has stripped the country of key skills since political instability began five years ago. Health graduates are among the most likely to be affected as the country has an acute shortage of doctors (Times Higher Education Supplement 2005 May 13:11).

DAN CALLISTER/REX

Rober Mugabe: a graduate recruitment scheme that puts the rest to shame

Antisemitism increasing on UK university campuses Antisemitic incidents are increasing, and prejudice against Jews is "becoming acceptable in the UK," a motion put to the annual conference of NATFHE, the lecturers' union, has warned. Figures show that antisemitic incidents increased by 42% in 2004 (Times Higher Education Supplement2005 May 13:5).

AMSA condemns drug advertising The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), the United States' largest, independent, medical student organisation has adopted a policy condemning advertising directly to consumers that is sponsored by the drug industry at its annual meeting. AMSA has also come out in support of medical school curriculums that prohibit pharmaceutical industry representatives from marketing to medical students. At the meeting, the AMSA also backed the use of any revenues from taxes on sugar sweetened drinks to be used for education about nutrition and the advertising of healthy foods (www.amsa.com).

Students should go on GMC register, says judge Janet Smith, the judge who chaired the Shipman inquiry, has called for students to be put on the UK General Medical Council's register to establish that they have the right values and attitudes to practise patient centred medicine. At a GMC conference on medical education she said that the fifth report of the inquiry highlighted the need to ensure that people become fit and proper doctors and that they have the right characteristics to be of service.

Medical students are bullied - More than a third of medical students have been bullied by senior doctors or nurses, according to a survey published by the BMA. About 35% of medical students reported having been bullied. About one in four of the 1000 students questioned said that they had been bullied by a doctor, and one in six had been bullied by a nurse. Students complained of racial and sexual discrimination and of being humiliated by teachers in front of patients. The names of the students surveyed and the hospitals and universities in which they are training were kept anonymous. See Careers p 246.



studentBMJ 2005;13:221-264 June ISSN 0966-6494