Colborn R P
Dean's Office, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Med Educ. 1995 Mar;29(2):110-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1995.tb02813.x.
As a result of the policy of apartheid, the University of Cape Town Medical School was prevented from admitting black African students by the South African Government until 1986. A further feature of this policy was to impose an inferior primary and secondary school education in African pupils, so that, in general, African school-leavers are underprepared for tertiary education. Admission to medical school is highly competitive and African school-leavers are unable to compete effectively with their counterparts from the other racial groups. Therefore, from 1986 to 1990 inclusive, an affirmative action admissions policy was followed that allowed the most successful African matriculants, whether competitive or not, to enter the Medical School and follow the regular course of study. This process failed in that an inadequate number of students gained admission to the MBChB programme and their academic progress was unsatisfactory. Since 1991, an affirmative action policy incorporating both academic support and mentor programmes has been followed by the Faculty of Medicine. This system has led to a substantial increase in the number of African students entering the first year of study and it is planned that up to 40% of all matriculants entering the MBChB programme in 1995 will be via this system. The academic load is reduced, and the results the students obtain at university have markedly improved, with 86% of students achieving the academic goals that they are set. The comparison between these two systems emphasizes the need to provide both academic and social support as well as flexibility in the curriculum if and affirmative action policy is to succeed.
由于种族隔离政策，开普敦大学医学院直到1986年才被南非政府允许招收非洲黑人学生。该政策的另一个特点是对非洲学生实施低水平的中小学教育，因此，一般来说，非洲中学毕业生接受高等教育的准备不足。医学院的入学竞争非常激烈，非洲中学毕业生无法与其他种族的同龄人有效竞争。因此，从1986年到1990年（含），实行了一项平权行动录取政策，允许最优秀的非洲预科生，无论是否具有竞争力，进入医学院并接受常规课程学习。这一过程失败了，因为进入医学学士和外科学士课程的学生人数不足，而且他们的学业进展也不尽如人意。自1991年以来，医学院实行了一项包含学业支持和导师计划的平权行动政策。这一制度导致进入一年级学习的非洲学生人数大幅增加，计划到1995年，通过该制度进入医学学士和外科学士课程的预科生比例将达到40%。学业负担减轻了，学生在大学取得的成绩有了显著提高，86%的学生实现了为他们设定的学业目标。这两种制度的比较强调，如果平权行动政策要取得成功，就需要提供学业和社会支持以及课程灵活性。
