BDS Program Overview Dentistry is the art and science devoted to maintaining the health of the teeth, gums, and other hard and soft tissues of the oral cavity and adjacent structures. A dentist is a scientist and clinician dedicated to the highest standards of health through prevention, diagnosis and treatment of oral diseases and conditions. The BDS program at the College of Dentistry (COD) Jouf University is devoted to excellence in education, research, community service and patient care. The program is classified as level 7 according to the National Qualification Framework. It consists of six academic years, and a one-year internship The study plan follows the rules of the yearly figures as the college education system is based on problem-based learning. Study language is English. Study duration is five years after the preparatory year followed by a clinical training internship year, and it is divided into three phases: • Basic Phase: Preparatory, first and second years. • Clinical Phase: third, fourth, and fifth years. • Internship Phase: clinical training year after graduation. Number of semesters and Credit Points: The study plan of the college is delivered over 6 years (12 semesters). Some of the courses are delivered and completed per semesters while others (longitudinal courses) are continuous over the whole year. The total credits hours are 208, which represent the total of clinical/laboratory and theoretical components of different courses over the 6 years. The internship year represents year 7, which involves clinical rotations of the graduates in different specialties. The internship year is mandatory for granting the Bachelor Degree of Oral & Dental Surgery (BDS). Graduation Requirements: 1. Pass the Preparatory year (Common first year). 2. Pass the required academic credits to graduate successfully. 3. Passing internship year. Areas of work of the graduates: University hospitals - University academic education - Ministry of Health hospitals - Military hospitals - Private hospitals - Health care centers - Private clinics - Health units of the Ministry of Education - Clinics of the Ministry of Social Affairs - Centers of medical research. Teaching Language English is the language of teaching and communication unless the College Council, in special cases, recommends teaching some subjects in another language. This will be subject to the approval of the University Council. Characteristics and general philosophy: The curriculum can be described as a discipline based with integrated courses. The integrated courses represent the majority of the courses in our curriculum, while the different departments (disciplines) still exist and function to manage the implementation and evaluation of both integrated and specialized courses. The following features characterize our curriculum: o Outcome based: It is based on 12 Learning outcomes that cover knowledge, cognitive skills, communication, information technology, personal and interpersonal skills and psychomotor skills. o Core with electives: The core courses achieve the 12 learning outcomes, while the elective courses are available for students to choose based on their interest. o Integrated: Majority of courses are integrated. Integration is present on the micro-level, in which the contents of related subjects are presented and learned together to better organize the students’ knowledge structures. At the macro-level, different clinical subjects are integrated to emphasis the concept of comprehensive patient care. o Mixed of student and teacher centered activities: The curriculum is not based one instructional approach. On a continuum of direct instruction at one end and unguided discovery at the other end, we can describe our curriculum as having a mixture of sessions that balance between direct instructions (lecture) and students centered activities (assignments & research projects & presentations and collaborative work). The student-centered activities are based on a guided discovery approach, in which the students are asked to search and integrate knowledge from specific resources based on predefined learning objectives. Furthermore, problems are delivered within the teaching and learning sessions. Based on AMEE Medical Education Guide No. 15: Problem-based learning: a practical guide, we can describe the problems in our curriculum under three major subheadings: The first is problem-assisted learning, in which a real patient problem is presented after the theoretical knowledge (lecture). The main aim is direct application of knowledge and showing relevance of theory to real situation. The second approach is through problem-initiated learning, in which the patient problem is used as a trigger at the beginning of a lecture. The last approach is through problem centered discovery learning, in which the students have the opportunities to search the literature and integrate knowledge and present their findings in different seminars.