Curriculum 2001: a proposal for a new, integrated, dental curriculum at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Recent technological advances and an escalation of knowledge in dentistry have highlighted the need to revise the current undergraduate dental curriculum at the University of the Witwatersrand. This imperative is reinforced on one hand by manifest problems in content, structure and sequencing of the existing curriculum, and on the other hand by the need to urgently address contemporary South African issues. Revision will also offer the opportunity to incorporate modern educational practice and philosophy. This paper proposes that the contents, sequence and duration of the curriculum must be determined by the knowledge demands of dentistry (global issues) as well as by local constraints. It suggests early clinical contact and changes in syllabus content, pedagogy and assessment practices in an undergraduate course of slightly reduced duration.