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The University of Saskatchewan's Aboriginal Equity Access Program in Dentistry
Author(s) -
Teplitsky Paul Elliot,
Uswak Gerald Stephen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1930-7837
pISSN - 0022-0337
DOI - 10.1002/j.0022-0337.2014.78.2.tb05668.x
Subject(s) - underrepresented minority , licensure , equity (law) , medical education , native american , dental education , entry level , inclusion (mineral) , medicine , family medicine , psychology , dentistry , political science , sociology , social psychology , ethnology , law
Persons of Aboriginal ancestry are underrepresented in the dental profession in North America. In Canada, the University of Saskatchewan College of Dentistry began a proactive program to recruit, retain, and graduate more Aboriginal students in 1996. This program, entitled the Aboriginal Equity Access Program, has seen the inclusion of twenty–two Aboriginal students in the predoctoral program. This article describes the program and reports on the success of the students enrolled via this route. The primary conclusion is that selection of Aboriginal dental students with lower entry scores—who would not have gained entry if the program did not exist—has not impaired their ability to successfully complete the dental undergraduate program and pass the National Dental Examining Board licensure examination.