The social mission of Australian medical schools in a time of expansion

The social mission, or accepted social responsibility of Australian medical schools, was assessed at a time of rapid expansion and resulting pressure on staff and facilities. Nine new schools have been established in 2005-10 and there has been particular concern about adequacy of clinical training places. Discussions with most of the deans revealed their strong social commitments. We consider two of these in depth - raising the status and thus the involvement of students in general and especially rural practice; and increasing the numbers of Indigenous students and the knowledge of Indigenous health and culture among all students. We examine a system by which medical schools in the USA have been ranked for social mission achievements and suggest this approach might be used in Australia to measure the response of medical schools to Government initiatives and policies.