Semesters 1 and 2
Homogenization
The first component encompasses the facilitation of basic knowledge relevant to medicine and the first step of the human-biological learning spiral.
The first semester begins with a three-day orientation unit, in which new students get an initial glance at how the studies are organized and become familiar with the University Hospital and Aachen with the help of tutors from higher semesters.
During the following three-week long introductory block, students learn the principles of first aid, hygiene, and bandaging in seminars and practicals. The first scientific and communicative skills and abilities are also taught.
New students have widely differing amounts of previous knowledge in the natural sciences. All students are brought up to the niveau necessary for medical studies through the intensive collaboration between the Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine.
Basic biological knowledge, that is necessary for all the organ and system blocks during the second component, is at the focus of the two-semester long Cell Biology course. Cell biology is typically an interdisciplinary subject in the model course of study. Instructors from biology, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, clinical chemistry, and human genetics teach together.
The basic understanding for the construction and functions of the human body is awakened in the course Propaedeutics of Organ Systems.