Commonwealth Scholar on the MSc in Surgical Sciences

I am Dr. Takondwa Itaye-Kamangira a general surgeon working in Malawi. I also have a Masters in Surgical Sciences obtained from the University of Edinburgh via their online program. I was given a scholarship for this program. This scholarship covered tuition and internet, which enabled me to complete the programme with no stumbles. At the time I enrolled in the program I was one and half years into my surgical training, this was a great advantage to me as the ESO programme helped with my studies, it tremendously assisted with learning and revision for my part one exams of the MMED programme. The materials and resources given was all I needed to pass my exams of which I was successful.

The course itself was intense but enjoyable. A few months into the programme I got pregnant and took an interruption of studies and re-joined to finish the programme. The discussion boards were excellent as we were able to interact with colleagues in the class and hear people’s views on different topics. The multiple choice questions were on point and really helped with studying. The topics given to discuss and research more on were also very interesting. For the final year, this was my first time doing my thesis and this helped and guided me as I also had to write a thesis for my MMED programme. With the assistance I got from this programme, it really helped for me to achieve my post graduate qualification.

Being from a poor resource region and interacting with those who have all the resources was also a great learning point.

I would recommend this programme to anyone who hasn’t yet written their membership exam, especially from a setting where you don’t have formal classes. Spending an average of 2 hours a day (which is not too much time) being involved in the programme is what is required to be successful. And you are free to choose which 2 hours in the day you want.