[Effects of examinations on learning and the curriculum: A position from Switzerland].

The federal law for higher academic medical professions (MedBG) constitutes a program accreditation as well as a federal licensing exam in medicine; both instruments influence the curricula and their further development.Parallel to the Bologna reform in Switzerland for all university degrees the federal licensing exam in medicine has been revised. The swiss catalogue of learning objectives (SCLO, 2 edition 2008) served as mandatory content reference for the exam and initiated numerous curricular developments. The new federal licencing exam has been implemented in 2011 comprising a MCQ-Part and a structured clinical practical exam in the OSCE format. Particularly this exam triggered the introduction of OSCEs in Zürich as well as in other Swiss universities.The latest national initiative to increase the number of medical students and the introduction of the new edition of the catalogue of learning objectives in 2017 will have relevant effects on curricular developments in Switzerland.