We are engaged in community medical education using Minami-Hiyama (14,000km<SUP>2</SUP>, population 23,000, aging rate 41.6%) in southern Hokkaido as a resource. The “rural(region)” concept has become more diverse in recent years, and a highly designed physician training program for rural doctors has become necessary. Therefore, we are attempting to design a rural medical education program based on the concept of “difference.” These “differences” can occur not only between urban and rural areas but also between different cultures. We hope that by connecting Minami-Hiyama and Sapporo with a telemedicine/education system, “differences” will be created and students who experience these differences will have a deeper understanding of rural medicine.

Introduction: The organ-system-based curriculum was developed in response to the demand for integrating basic sciences. It is an integrated curriculum with interdepartmental collaboration as an essential feature. We investigated its implementation in medical schools in Japan.
Methods: The basic science/clinical medicine curricula of 80 medical schools were classified as either discipline-based or organ-system-based according to the self-report for the accreditation for medical education and the description in the latest version of “the Status Quo of the Medical School Curricula.”
Results: According to the self-report, 12 schools introduced organ-system-based curricula in basic sciences and 52 in clinical medicine. Of the other medical schools, three in basic sciences and 16 in clinical medicine were classified as having an organ-system curriculum based on the “Status Quo of the Medical School Curricula.”
Discussion: The concepts toward organ-system-based curricula differ between basic sciences and clinical medicine. The integration level of the organ system curricula is expected to increase in the future as subject committees and cross-departmental collaboration progress.

　This paper provides a brief insight into medical education in Saudi Arabia. It begins by providing an introduction and background on the country’s medical education, how it developed, how the undergraduate course is organised, and how the curriculum has changed over the years. Subsequently, undergraduate admission and the undergraduate curriculum are described in more detail. Postgraduate training is also discussed, as different scholarship programs offered to Saudi medical students and graduates. This paper highlights the similarities and differences with the Japanese medical education system.

　With the enactment of the amended Anti-Discrimination Act, which mandates the provision of reasonable accommodations, the urgent task for all health professional education institutions is to establish a support system for students with developmental disabilities. On the other hand, they are also required to fulfill their social accountability through quality assurance in education, such as the implementation of outcome-based education curriculum. In order to consider how to balance reasonable accommodations for students with developmental disabilities, quality assurance in education, and social accountability in undergraduate medical education, Professionalism Subcommittee held a workshop on April 22, 2023. The participants engaged in active discussions during the workshop.　Through a post-workshop survey, educational needs and challenges in supporting students with developmental disabilities were clarified, providing insights for future Subcommittee activities.