The HannibaL model degree program

Practice from the beginning

Hannover Medical School is committed to the idea of providing physicians with the best possible preparation for medical practice. To this end, the HannibaL model degree course was launched in 2005. HannibaL stands for Hanoverian integrated, career-oriented and adaptive teaching.

However, the structure of the MHH model degree program HannibaL differs in key respects from that of other model degree programs:

• An essential aspect of medical training in HannibaL is the early contact with patients. This patient orientation is reflected in the propaedeutic modules with clinical ward rounds and diagnostic methods in the first two years of training. The integration of theoretical and clinical content is another essential aspect of the study programmes. Clinical topics are interlinked with theoretical content right from the start of the course. The weighting of both parts shifts towards intensive clinical practice in the later years of the course. Another focus is on the training of scientific skills, which has been strengthened by a separate module since 2020.
• The traditional subject structure of medical studies has been retained, but is supplemented by "interdisciplinary" longitudinal modules, such as the propaedeutic course (1st year), diagnostic methods (2nd year), internal medicine (3rd and 4th years), the science module (years 1 to 5) and pain medicine (years 1 to 5). Teaching takes place in modules.
• Practical skills and Communications with patients are carried out in special classrooms, the Skills Lab.

• Teaching in the HannibaL model course does not take place in semesters, but in five sections of seven weeks each, which are called quintiles. Quintiles 1, 2 and 3 are in the winter semester and quintiles 4 and 5 in the summer semester. From the third year onwards, the cohort is divided into quarters and students rotate through four blocks of the academic year, with a fifth block being taught together. The lecture-free periods are set aside for clinical traineeships and scientific work.

• The examinations are held in close temporal relation to the lessons in examination weeks.

• Students on the HannibaL model course do not have to take the first section of the medical examination (M1). All examinations in the first two years of study are "state examination equivalent" and the certificate of equivalence replaces the M1 state examination. The second section of the medical examination (M2) marks the end of the model degree program at the end of the five-year course. After the practical year, the overall course of study is completed with the oral-practical examination of the third section of the medical examination (M3).

• The scientific and research aspects of the course are fundamentally covered in the science module. There is also a structured doctoral program. This program includes a twelve-month doctoral thesis combined with intensive supervision and additional soft skills courses.