Table 1.

Common elements of the Medical Student Research Programmes at the Norwegian medical schools

Element	Description
Length of curriculum	All Norwegian medical schools have a six year curriculum. The Medical Student Research Programme is a two-year course (120 credit points), one of these years is added to the study of medicine and one year is integrated into the curriculum as extra work time and scientific work during weekends and summers. The total duration of the study of medicine with a Research Programme thus becomes 7 years
Recruitment	Up to 10% of the year groups in each medical school can be recruited annually. There are currently 20 study places at UiO, 15 at UiB, 12 at NTNU and 6 at UiT annually
Formalised research training	30 credit points, which equals an ordinary PhD programme
Research and publications	Research and the research paper/publication(s) give 90 credit points
Elements of curriculum	The course consists of full-time research for one year (this could be two separate terms), research courses and seminars, summer schools and research work in parallel with ordinary medical school
Assessment	The course is assessed with pass/no pass
Certificate and approval	The formalised research training may be approved as the theoretical part of the PhD-programme
Postgraduate training	The course implies shorter specialist training and further studies leading up to a PhD. A completed Research Programme counts as one year's research in specialist training for all specialist fields
Funding of students	The Research Council of Norway funds a 2-year grant per student. The annual grant for 2008 is NOK 96,000 (USD 15,000, EUR 12,000)