U. of California Expanding Enrollment?

The University of California will soon announce a plan to expand its medical school enrollment by almost 1,000 students, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The plan calls for increased enrollment at the five existing UC medical schools and the creation of a sixth medical school at Riverside.

The plan also calls for increased enrollment in nursing, pharmacology, and veterinary medicine. State officials say the UC system needs to produce more graduates in all of these fields in order to keep pace with the demands of a growing and aging population.

The expanded medical school enrollment would take years to achieve. The target enrollment of 3,429 medical students each year -- a 34 per cent increase over the current enrollment of 2,564 -- would not be reached until 2020.

Source: "New Med School Part of UC Plan to Boost Health Care Graduates," by Tanya Schevitz, the San Francisco Chronicle, November 14, 2006