The keynotes of the University of Brasilia medical education programme are the flexible system of registration, the integrated study programme, community orientation and student choice and self-pacing. While the programme is not without its problems, a measure of its effectiveness is the proportion of graduates choosing a career in general care medicine (general practice, paediatrics, internal medicine, and obstetrics/gynaecology). Among the 1978 graduates the percentage who made general care medicine their career choice (60 per cent) was double the number who had stated this preference before the medical learning experience.