Failing Medical School in Tunisia? What to Do When Your Inscriptions Run Out (2026)

Four inscriptions

The four inscriptions are counted across the whole first cycle, not per year. Whoever repeats the first year twice has no reserve left for the second. Inscriptions are annual, and a student who does not renew in time is removed from the lists.

Second cycle

Seven inscriptions for four years sound generous. But the decision is individual, and after it every further failure can be the last. The national exam for entry to the third cycle follows at the end, and the national diploma of doctor of medicine comes only after two more years of family medicine and a thesis, eight years in total.

Exams and clerkships

A repeat year costs more than the failed certificate. Students who repeat must do and validate all clerkships of that year again. The certificate of the first cycle and the diploma of the second cycle are awarded only to students with no outstanding credit.

Derogation

Apply with documents for illness or family reasons and with your results from the years you passed. Request your transcripts and clerkship attestations at the same time, whatever the outcome.

Why students get stuck

Depression shows up quietly, as lectures replayed without taking in a word. It is treatable. A medical certificate also matters for your file, because it is what a derogation is decided on.

None of this means you chose the wrong profession. I started dental medicine in Sofia in 2015, at 24, years after most of my classmates, and graduated in 2021. A slower start says nothing about the doctor you will become.

Switch early

• You are on your third or fourth inscription in the first cycle.
• You have passed seven inscriptions in the second cycle.
• The faculty council has set a cap for you.
• You have applied for a derogation or it was refused.

If one of these applies to you, book a free transfer consultation now rather than after the catch-up session.

Next four weeks

• Week 1: count your inscriptions in the current cycle and read the internal regulations of your faculty.
• Week 1 to 2: request your transcripts for every year and the attestations of all validated clerkships.
• Week 2 to 3: collect the programme with hours for each passed certificate. A receiving university credits only what it can compare.
• Week 3 to 4: see a doctor if health plays a part, and keep the documents for the derogation file.
• Before the last session: book a free transfer consultation and compare staying with a transfer and a planned return to Tunisia.

Transfer abroad

A study transfer is a complicated undertaking. Every university checks hours, content and syllabi in its own way, and the documents have to arrive in exactly the right form. Our experts have almost ten years of experience with study transfers, and we regularly achieve placements into higher years, at times Year 4 or Year 5.

For Tunisian students the place abroad comes with a student visa. The admission letter, proof of funds and housing have to be ready in time, and we prepare that file with you.

Returning to Tunisia

The criteria were revised by the ministerial order of 10 October 2023. Two points matter for a student who leaves now:

• Your baccalaureate counts: the commission looks at the whole record, starting with the baccalaureate, and not only at the final diploma.
• The Tunisian benchmark is eight years: the national diploma follows six years of study, two years of family medicine and a thesis. The commission compares your training with that path, clerkships included.

For specialists the rule is simpler: Tunisian doctors with a specialist diploma from abroad and at least five years of practice receive the equivalence without an exam and without complementary training. We choose your university so that its programme and clerkships can be documented and compared, and we tell you before you enrol what your return will look like.

Costs

How we help

Medschool Experts reviews your transcripts and certificate programmes in a free transfer consultation, finds medical schools among our more than 25 partner universities that fit your profile, prepares the application and the documents, and plans your route back to Tunisia. More than 500 students have been placed so far. The first step is always a free transfer consultation.