Within the Bari Medical School, twenty credits are assigned to the course of Physiology over three semesters of the second and third year, while one credit is granted in the subsequent academia years as propaedeutic to clinical teaching. Some elective courses are offered to the students, as well. Assessment is based on written (multiple-choice questionnaire) and oral examinations.

Since 1988 the Bari Medical School, as Associate Member of the Network of Community-Oriented Educational Institutions for Health Sciences, is applying its innovative approach to medical education. A "Parallel Experimental Curriculum" has been set up to implement the methodologies of PBL (Problem Based Learning) and COE (Community-Oriented Education), that allow students to acquire the capability 'to know', 'to know how to be' and 'to know how to behave'. Advantages but also several problems exist in implementing COE and PBL in a "traditional" Medical School.

Further, a TEMPUS project called Co.Le.M. (Community-Oriented and Learning-centered Education in Medical School) was coordinated by the Institute of Human Physiology. Co.Le.M. aimed to renew, by using the methods of PBL and COE, the medical curricula of some Universities of the Central/Eastern Europe. The project lasted three years and was targeted at training tutors, implementing methodologies and producing teaching material. The results of this experience will be reviewed.