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Griffith Dentistry Information

UMAT Veteran

Regular Member
Hey everyone. I went to an ADAQ General meeting last night where Ward Massey (Dean and Head of School of Dentistry and Oral Health) addressed us on Griffith Unis current program, some things that are going on and its future direction. I have to say that i was very impressed. And whilst i WAS planning on still transferring over to UQ dent at the end of the year, after hearing some of the things going on I have decided to stay. He is working very hard to get CSP places for the final 2 years but is having a little trouble getting it past the Vice chancellor of the uni. Ward mentioned that one of his arguments was that we (Griffith Uni) are losing some very smart, Gifted and enthusiastic students who get offered places, show up for O-week then get offered elsewhere and take off. One example of which is a stud. that did just this and went to adelaide uni this year even though he lived on the GC and told massey it was because of the fees. One of the Vice chancellors arguments is that currently QTAC data shows there are 655 applicants for Griffith Dentistry for 80 places and said something along the lines of "with numbers like that, we can afford to double to fee places and they would still apply". Having said that, Massey and other academics are pushing hard and HOPE to have around half of the places in the Grad Dip CSP by the time we get to 4th year, but cannot promise anything because it is not set in stone.

Below is a facebook post a friend made of the notes she took during the meeting. They are pretty comprehensive and should ansswer a few of the Q's people have about Griffith. Enjoy :)

Tonight professor Ward Massey our head of school addressed the ADAQ at a general meeting and answered so many burning questions that we all want answers to. Those answers are below.

Why Oral Health Therapy was eliminated
  • The quota of 25 spaces was always difficult to fill
  • There is an increase in market competition with CQU (Central Queensland Uni) looking to introduce an OHT course in the future
  • There are placement issues in QLD especially as JCU is also competing with us for limited placements for OHT studs.
  • The school had grave concerns for accrediation because GH1 placements are not enough to be accredited.
  • The discussion process is still ongoing with current students.
  • There may be voluntary/forced redundancies for the OHT staff but right now they are still needed to teach the remaining OHT students. Some may be reintergrated into the school somehow. 3 main staff members are affected by this.
The New Hospital
  • The new building is 15,000 sqm compared with 6500 sqm currently at GH1 (Griffith Uni -Southport Centre for Medicine and Oral Health)
  • Our current GH1 building actually won a prize for architectural design with steel!
  • However not all of this space is for us (as is with the current building)
  • GH1 was originally designed for 40 DSc, 10 OHT and 10 DTC students so we are outgrowing the building as current enrolment is around 80 DSc 20 OHT 20 DTC per year
  • The postgrad clinic is increasing from 6 chairs to 32 chairs, with some of those chairs used for private practice.
  • The Sim lab will have 112 units which can be split into 2 rooms
  • There will also be room for clinical trials
  • The same architects that designed the new UQ Dental school is designing ours.
  • They are designing the new Oral health centre building as they go(!)(apparently this is how most modern day arcithects do it) so we don't know what the building will fully look like until they're done
  • The plaza in the current specs will disappear as our vice chancellor said it looked too much like TianAnMen Square.
  • The New hospital will have 2,229 car parks. But will it be enough?
  • We have 10 cranes on the construction site at the moment.
  • The new centre will have 5 or 6 simulators around a pod, which is a more intimate teaching environment as opposed to 10 students on a long bench which is currently at GH1
  • Theory will not be taught in the same building as clinic held in. (Envisage walks from campus building to campus building, not having the luxury of just being in the same bulding like at GH1)
  • We hope to be in by Semester 2 2013
  • There will be an atrium with palm trees.
  • It costs $136 million.
The new admissions process and fee structures and course structures
  • Professor Massey is PUSHING VERY HARD to get the majority of 4th and 5th year as CSP BUT the higher ups in the university are making it very difficult. There has been a 15% budget cut for the school due to the GFC. He would love to promise us that by the time we get to 4th year there will be CSP places but he can't.
  • The only way to keep making $$ with elimination of full fee would be to bring in more international students however Professor Massey does not want to do this as he believes it is a bit unethical to have more internationals just to offset our bills.
  • Current QTAC data shows that there are 655 people applying for 80 places so this is the excuse the higher ups are saying to keep the full fee
  • However Professor Massey is very aware that people are leaving for USYD, UQ and Uni of Adelaide and knows that ultimately (and I quote) "we are losing the best people for the wrong reasons".
  • The interview for DSc has been eliminated and the reason for this is there is Interpersonal Skills which is meant to help us be more interpersonal (!)
  • Incidentally when the previous years had to do 'Psychology for the Health Sciences' there were a large number of complaints about that subject being too in depth about Freud etc which is why they moved to Interpersonal Skills.
  • Professor Massey is hoping that foundation health year will have more Oral health school based subjects and this will happen in the future as they continually review the program and get feedback from students
  • We don't treat patients till 3rd year. Professor Massey wants to change this to 2nd semester 2nd year but don't know when
Placements
  • Next year Griffith will be able to access half of all QLD health clinical placement facilities with UQ accessing the other half. This will cause some problems as QLD health placements are 13-17 weeks while our curriculum doesn't run with this, but Griffith is altering it's program to accomodate.
  • QLD health placements for Griff will now include places like Warwick, the Darling Downs, Sunshine Coast, all over South East Queensland and of course Brisbane.
Dental Professionals and higher Education
  • Professor Ian Meyers disputes the fact that we will have an oversupply of dentists in 10 years for the following reasons: 1) current dentists are quite old (ie they will start retiring), 2) our population is increasing 3) dentists are staying in the practice shorter than traditionally.
  • We are experiencing a shortage of dental academics and have resorted in poaching dental staff from one uni to the next.
  • There are 9 dental schools in Australia and 3 of the newest are all in QLD.
  • CQU is starting an OHT program with intake of around 20-30
  • Our school currently receives 7% funding from both research performance and Learning and teaching performance.
  • The school hopes to focus in future on Biomaterials science and more clinical trials.
  • The school doesn't have enough broad ranges of continuing education. It wants to give back to alumni and staff with more professional development.
  • The school is currently an examination site for overseas trained dentists applying with the ADC.



And now for the most important bit.

You guys probably don't realise just how hard professor Massey is fighting for us. I didn't realise it until I heard him speak tonight. He wholeheartedly supports many of the things we are fighting for. After the meeting he handed the three of us that attended his business card and asked us to email him. Why? He wants us to do a mini survey of our friends and peers and see what YOU guys want. How are you finding foundation year health? Are there any subjects in which the teaching quality is particularly bad overall? He wants us to collate this and contact him and promises all information passed to him will be treated in confidence. He is surprisingly in touch with us and knows about much of what is going on. He knows for example there is mass forgery of signatures in 1111_DOH. He knows that Anatomy and Physiology is a killer. And he knows that we would rather do more dental related subjects in first year. But it's up to you guys to tell him your opinions.
 
A

areyouserious

Guest
wow...655 applicants is a lot!..

what chance do i stand with a 99.7-99.8 ATAR from sydney of getting into griffith dentistry???

Cheers bro
 

Shizzy

Staff
Administrator
wow...655 applicants is a lot!..

what chance do i stand with a 99.7-99.8 ATAR from sydney of getting into griffith dentistry???

Cheers bro

Welcome back Mr. kkkk, UWSMedIntCommittee, UWSMedReviewCommittee, kbsb, Tsunami, toshiba619, AlexDDD, indiaindia, kaka83, Mole, mmkart, melchick, NuttyGrover, DitzyKritz, modhi, yoyo. I think you know very well that that is a competitive score. Many other threads address this issue.

Thanks UMAT Vet! I think a lot of potential Griffith applicants will find this informative and interesting. :)
 

UMAT Veteran

Regular Member
wow...655 applicants is a lot!..

what chance do i stand with a 99.7-99.8 ATAR from sydney of getting into griffith dentistry???

Cheers bro

yeah i know, it's a little over 8:1 (applicants : places available)

I can't tell you what your chances are as i have no idea. but i can tell you that you wouldn't be at the bottom of the list, nor the very top.
 

HYM

Member
That is great Massey is fighting for CSP. I doubt it will happen because we have to remember that universities are still businesses at the end of the day. Massey is an academic while the higher up guys are more businessmen and to them, it is important that the figures are pleasing. This is the harsh reality.

Furthermore, I think that interviews should still be conducted. Undertaking a subject in interpersonal skills does not mean you will have them or apply them in everyday life or work. Maybe you can understand concepts and pass an exam but still be awkward in real life scenarios - some people just dont have it in them to deal with people in an 'emotionally intelligent' manner.

I think GU dent is a good course overall and the their products are competent. They also pay lots of attention to the TEVALs and that is very important.

Thanks for the valuable post umat veteran.
 

pevray

Member
Thanks for the info. 655 applicants is heaps! I was hoping that the last 2 years being full fee would've deterred more people though.
 
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Hutcherson

Emeritus Staff
Emeritus Staff
Thank you So much. I enjoyed reading this and It cleared up alot of questions. The only reccomendation i would give in the survey is to change some first year subjects So half dent/ science like other unis do e.g uq, jcu, adelaide. But It looks like Their planning to do that anyway. Thanks again umat veteran. Lol my gpa 6 wont have a chance now :(
 

sublimeC

Regular Member
So there will be a dental facility in the new GC hospital. Sounds great!
Any information on what's going to happen to the current building attached to the grandpa hospital?
 

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UMAT Veteran

Regular Member
Pretty sure its owned by Queensland Health now so they'll do something with it.

Correct! But no-one knows right now what is going to happen with it, not even QLD Health. The way the building worked is that when it got built the government then decided to build a brand new hospital on the GC so Griff had to make the decision whether to stay at GH1 or build a new centre, so they cut a deal with QLD Health that they'd buy the building back off Griff so they could relocate (or something along the lines of this)

Prof. Massey also said he is trying to push for them to keep at least half of the dental chairs there for more training for people (can't remember whether this is for the Oral health kids from around the state, or for Continuing Professional Development courses or for something else, but he did mention something)
 

thehairyfoot

Regular Member
Wow! That's great bunch of news.

Most exciting things for me:
That they have FINALLY got the QLD health placements of UQ. By placements do you mean we won't have that experience problem we currently face?? What sort of placements are they; what do we do?

And I am psyched about the new building. It's a shame we only get to use it for a year and a half though. But I suppose that's the most we can ask for. I really hope it's built on time.

As far as the CSP places go. I think the academics do have a case. Even though 600+ people apply, that doesn't mean even half of that number would be capable of completing dentistry (passing etc. courses too hard) And we are losing a lot of the brightest and most motivated to other universities. This drags down the reputation of the university. Particularly as dentistry is a headline course for universities. Though I'm not holding my breath - with the investment in the new building I wouldn't be surprised if they are tight on budget.

If you want to pass on something from me (being one of your peers) is that I'd be happy with ANY reduction in fees. CSP would be amazing. But any amount taken off the 45K a year would be good - say 30K a year I dunno. A compromise might be the way? People wouldn't get turned off nearly as much by a 50K debt as a 100K one say.
 

l2009

Regular Member
Very informative post!

Much respect to Professor Massey. He really does seem like a genuine guy. He even spent a few months teaching 2nd year sim lab sessions. Seems very out of the way for someone like the head of school to be doing.

Anyway, please do get the opinions from your fellow 1st years, because I guarantee every single one of them will wish they could learn oral health subjects. I know everyone in my year feels the same. Heck, even the year above me would wish for the same. Makes me feel slightly bitter that all the good stuff might be coming around when I'm about to graduate :)lol:) but it would be great to see some real improvements.

edit: you could even ask Professor Massey to consider changing the course so that first year students learn basic cavity preps and restorations as well. I reckon it would be better as it gives people much more time to improve their skills (you wouldn't believe how many people failed sim lab in first semester ...) I know they do this at UQ, hence I was surprised when a girl in 1st year GU dent told me that she had already learnt class II and V from 1st year at UQ Oral Health.
 

UMAT Veteran

Regular Member
Wow! That's great bunch of news.

Most exciting things for me:
That they have FINALLY got the QLD health placements of UQ. By placements do you mean we won't have that experience problem we currently face?? What sort of placements are they; what do we do?

And I am psyched about the new building. It's a shame we only get to use it for a year and a half though. But I suppose that's the most we can ask for. I really hope it's built on time.

As far as the CSP places go. I think the academics do have a case. Even though 600+ people apply, that doesn't mean even half of that number would be capable of completing dentistry (passing etc. courses too hard) And we are losing a lot of the brightest and most motivated to other universities. This drags down the reputation of the university. Particularly as dentistry is a headline course for universities. Though I'm not holding my breath - with the investment in the new building I wouldn't be surprised if they are tight on budget.

If you want to pass on something from me (being one of your peers) is that I'd be happy with ANY reduction in fees. CSP would be amazing. But any amount taken off the 45K a year would be good - say 30K a year I dunno. A compromise might be the way? People wouldn't get turned off nearly as much by a 50K debt as a 100K one say.

Yeah that'd be nice....But chopping the Fee in half for everyone would be just about the same as giving the top 50% of students a CSP place
 

Bluebird

Regular Member
So there will be a dental facility in the new GC hospital. Sounds great!
Any information on what's going to happen to the current building attached to the grandpa hospital?

Being used by QH.


Great OP UMATveteran... when was the info evening??

Also. Theyre getting rid of OHT?!?!?! When...? Why...?
 

denthopeful

Member
I was just wondering when CQU are starting there OHT program?
Thanks! :)
 

Bluebird

Regular Member
I've heard from a dialysis worker that the kidney dialysis unit have the GH1 building plans and are getting quotes for turning the current dental clinic on level 2 into the QH dialysis centre
 

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