Queen's Dental Student Tops UK Training Assessment

A Queen's University final year dental student has been ranked number one in the National Dental Foundation Training assessment procedure.

Leonard Maguire, from Dungannon, was top of a list of over 1,200 final year dental students from across the UK's 16 Dental Schools, as well as from Dental Schools in Europe assessed during this year's Foundation Training recruitment process.

Last year's highest ranking student in the UK was also another Queen's dental student, Conan Mackle from L'Derry.

National recruitment to Dental Foundation training was introduced for Wales and England for all dental graduates in 2011, with Northern Ireland joining the process in 2012.

The training sees students assessed in their final year of study using professional, clinical and management scenarios and a Situational Judgment Test.

Speaking about his success, Leonard said: "I am really pleased to have been ranked number one in the UK in the recent Dental Foundation Training recruitment process. The teaching, training and continued support I received at Queen's means that I feel well equipped for the workplace. The Employability Programme at the Centre for Dentistry has been invaluable in terms of encouraging development of my skills."

Professor Donald Burden, Director of the Centre for Dentistry at Queen's, said: "We are delighted that for the second year in a row a Queen's dental student has been ranked first in the UK and that more than half our students are in the top twenty per cent. These results reflect not only the hard work and commitment of our students but also the high quality of teaching delivered by the dental teaching team. The Centre for Dentistry's Employability Programme run by Lorna Dysart, Clinical Teaching Fellow, has also played a key role in this national success."

(IT/MH)