Challenges and Alternatives of the University of Cuban Medical Sciences

Abstract

Introduction: the University of Medical Sciences faces challenges in its daily work and at the same timethis institution benefits from elements that positively contribute to fulfill its mission. Objective: toidentify some aspects considered as challenges faced by the Cuban University of Medical Sciences and to propose some alternatives as well. Methods: A transversal and a descriptive study was carried out at the “Miguel Enríquez” Faculty of Medical Sciences, Havana City, March 2017. The universe was composed of twenty professors who belong to the Integral General Stomatology Department and who were also surveyed. Results: all of them agree that the U.S. economic blockade, the lack of professors with research and maindegrees, little vocational guidance and the few possibilities to have access to information and communication technologies result in challenges faced by the university. Some proposed alternatives are:to improve the dental unit conditions (85%), to increase the use of scientific information (80%) and to foster the students’ vocational guidance (70%). Conclusions: instructing professors with less years of experience identified more challenges. More alternativesso as to compensate these challenges were offered by the auxiliary professors with more than 10 years of experience.