Australian medical education in a time of change: a view from the University of Sydney.

In 1991, vigorous debate was regenerated in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney about the desirability of changing the traditional 6-year undergraduate medical programme to a 4-year, graduate model. Similar discussion occurred at the same time largely independently in two other Australian medical schools (at Flinders University and the University of Queensland). After a year of active investigation and consideration, all three made the decision to proceed. Although the specific reasons driving each institution differed somewhat, some concerns were common to all three. I here review the history of the process of change, the strategies used to encourage discussion and the major issues for the Medical Faculty at the University of Sydney.