BRATISLAVA's Medical Faculty wants to change its entrance exams to make it easier for Roma students to gain access to the prestigious school.
The faculty's dean, Pavol Traubner, has prepared a document setting individual acceptation criteria for applicants of Roma ethnicity. Unlike other applicants, Roma students will be required to score only 50 per cent on entrance tests, and their results will be listed separately from those of other students. From this special list, the three top scores will be accepted to the faculty. The new rules will be in force already during this year's entrance exams.
The faculty believes the move will help increase the number of Roma medical staff in the country.
Traubner was reacting to an appeal from Comenius University Rector Ferdinand Devínsky to actively include Roma citizens in solving the nation's social and health care problems.
