Problem-based learning has grown to perhaps the most popular medical education paradigm of the day. With its emphasis on integration, community orientation and self-directed life-long learning, it is distinct from the traditional medical curriculum. The learning of clinical skills from the early days of the PBL curriculum is essential to PBL goals and so is the establishment of administrative units (clinical skills unit-CSU) for this purpose. Data from recent conferences particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, however, reveal that the importance of the CSU has not been commensurately highlighted. This paper, therefore, defines clinical skills, establishes its essence in a PBL curriculum, and compares the traditional opportunistic approach with the innovative structured approach to the teaching of clinical skills. The three major administrative structures for teaching skills are highlighted, and from the students' perspective, the need for standardisation is emphasised. The threats to modern teaching of skills posed by traditional attitudes and practices, and the need, therefore, for formal teacher-training and professionalism in clinical skills teaching are discussed. Themodern approach to skills assessment by way of the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is discussed with reference to the traditional method. We express the view that the teaching of skills in the undergraduate medical curriculum of the future will be more the responsibility of the generalist (with holistic attitude) than of the specialist (with narrow organbased focus) doctor who may be more suited to postgraduate training.