Queen’s Dental Student Ranked First In The UK

A Queen’s University final year dental student has been ranked number one in the National Dental Foundation Training assessment procedure.

Leonard Maguire, from Dungannon, has been ranked first among more than 1200 final year dental students from across the UK’s 16 Dental Schools and from Dental Schools in Europe who were assessed during this year’s Foundation Training recruitment process. Last year’s highest ranking student in the UK was also another Queen’s dental student, Conan Mackle, from Derry.

National recruitment to Dental Foundation training was introduced for Wales and England for all dental graduates in 2011 with Northern Ireland joining the process in 2012.

Students are assessed in their final year of study using professional, clinical and management scenarios and a Situational Judgment Test. Students are then ranked according to their performance in these areas.

On top of this individual success, all of Queen’s University’s final year dental students performed well with half of the Queen’s dental students ranked in the top 20 per cent

Speaking about his success, Leonard said: “I am really pleased to have been ranked number one in the UK in the recent Dental Foundation Training recruitment process.

The teaching, training and continued support I received at Queen’s means that I feel well equipped for the workplace. The Employability Programme at the Centre for Dentistry has been invaluable in terms of encouraging development of my skills.”

Speaking about the results, Queen’s Acting President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor James McElnay, said: “This is fantastic news for Dentistry at Queen’s. The fact that Queen’s dental students have been ranked top in the UK for the second year in a row is testimony to the high quality of education offered in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences.

The performance of our final year dental students in the Dental Foundation Training selection process is evidence of the University’s commitment to employability as a key component of the student experience.”

This achievement comes at an exciting time for Queen’s Centre for Dentistry; the completion of the first and second phases of an ongoing multi-million pound refurbishment programme means that the Dental School’s clinical training facilities are already among the best in the UK.

The quality of clinical education and training provided at Queen’s Dental School is also attracting high quality undergraduate students from across the world with 25 per cent of the most recent student intake comprising of international students.
www.qub.ac.uk/schools/mdbs/dentistry