Selection for Medical School: the quest for validity

Because there are many more applications than study places, medical education programmes must reject potential students. Many universities struggle with the question of how they can develop and implement a selection procedure that is valid, predictive, reliable, fair and cost-effective.
In this dissertation, a new selection approach was investigated: the explicit application of "constructive alignment", or bringing the content of the selection procedure in line with the final objectives of the training as described in the medical training framework plan; for that purpose, these final attainment levels have been translated to the level of selection candidates.
The research in this dissertation shows that this approach leads to a procedure that is predictive of study success from year 1 from the bachelor to the end of the master, from pre-clinical knowledge and skills to clinical practice. Moreover, it has been shown that the procedure measures what it should measure and is cost effective in relation to draw.
These results should be taken into account when making political decisions about the choice between selection and draw.