Medicine

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Start date: September 2024

Deadlines for on-time applications

2024 entry application deadlines

For courses starting in 2024 (and for deferred applications), your application should be with us at UCAS by one of these dates – depending on what courses you apply for. If your completed application – including all your personal details and your academic reference – is submitted by the deadline, it is guaranteed to be considered.

16 October 2023 for 2024 entry at 18:00 (UK time) – any course at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or for most courses in medicine, veterinary medicine/science, and dentistry. You can add choices with a different deadline later, but don’t forget you can only have five choices in total.

31 January 2024 for 2024 entry at 18:00 (UK time) – for the majority of courses.

Some course providers require additional admissions tests to be taken alongside the UCAS application, and these may have a deadline. Find out more about these tests at https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/admissions-tests

Check course information in the search tool to see which deadline applies to you at the application weblink below.

Apply as soon as possible: Student funding arrangements mean that as offers are made and places fill up, some courses may only have vacancies for students from certain locations. It’s therefore really important that you apply for your chosen courses by the appropriate deadlines mentioned above, as not all courses will have places for all students.

All applications received after 30 June are entered into Clearing - find out more about Clearing at https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/clearing-and-results-day/what-clearing

Overview
The 4 year MBBS programme will equip you with the professional knowledge skills values and behaviours required to be a competent medical practitioner.

Summary
Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT) March 2024 registration now open. Register for GAMSAT before the 22 January deadline.

Ulster University launched its Graduate Entry Medicine programme in 2021 and is excited to offer 2024 entry: it is a unique development in medical education in Northern Ireland.

This 4-year course is open to graduates from a wide range of science and non-science backgrounds. You will be part of a cohort of students that have a diverse range of experience and skills, making this an exciting and stimulating entry route into the medical profession. Upon graduation you will be awarded a primary medical qualification, an MBBS degree, which enables you to start work as a medical practitioner in the United Kingdom. At the time of writing, you will be eligible to enter the UK Foundation Programme, but with the planned introduction of the UK Medical Licensing Examination in 2024, the requirement for the UK Foundation Programme might have changed before you commence your studies.

The award of the final degree by Ulster University will be subject to satisfying the GMC’s rigorous quality assurance programme. In the unlikely event that Ulster did not satisfy the GMC’s rigorous quality assurance programme, the final degree would be awarded by our partner Medical School, St George’s, University of London.​

The care of patients, as a doctor, requires a broad approach which includes a sound understanding of biomedical and social sciences, and the ability to provide comprehensive, compassionate "whole patient" care. Applicants with non-science backgrounds bring unique and important skills and experience to both their studies and their eventual care of patients. This is why we welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds.

The start date for the programme is 19th August 2024.

About
The course is an intense full-time, four year programme leading to an MBBS degree, recognised by the General Medical Council as a Primary Medical Qualification in the UK. The award of the final degree by Ulster University will be subject to satisfying the GMC’s rigorous quality assurance programme.

We are delighted to be working with St George’s University of London as our partner medical school. St George’s has a long established reputation for delivering world-class medical education and has run a highly acclaimed Graduate Entry medical programme for many years.

Throughout the journey of the first cohort of students, we will be working closely with the GMC and St Georges to provide our students with the very best medical education; ensuring that they emerge as competent, caring, capable doctors.

Our 4-year MBBS programme can give you the opportunity to train as a doctor, even if this seemed like such a remote dream for you when you were at school that you did not even consider it. Perhaps you did not achieve the GCSE grades you had hoped for; or perhaps you were not sure whether to study arts or sciences at A level and opted for arts-based subjects. Maybe you just did not think you would ever be good enough to consider that you could be a doctor: but all along, you could not deny that this was really what you wanted to do.

In our School of Medicine, you now have a chance to fulfil your ambition to become a doctor. If you have a minimum of a 2.1 honours degree in any subject, are willing to work hard and want to know more about what it means to study medicine and become a doctor; then come along to our open days. There, you will have an opportunity to speak to us to find out more about being a doctor, what Graduate Entry medicine entails, and how you can prepare for our admissions process. You will need to sit the GAMSAT test and undertake a Multiple-Mini Interview process to demonstrate that you have the personal qualities required of a doctor. Once a student with us, working in mixed groups means that, whatever your background, you will have an unique perspective and bring all your prior learning and life experience to your studies.

Being a doctor is endlessly rewarding, hard work and at times challenging. We are pleased to welcome applications from a wide range of students. A long term health condition of your own is not in itself a reason not to apply to study medicine, although we will take an individual approach to applicants with health problems and/ or disabilities, using Occupational Health professionals, in order to make sure that you have all the support you require to maximise your success as an undergraduate and then moving into the workplace. There is strong ongoing support for you whilst a student through the University’s support services, and there is further support available through the Ulster University Students Union.

Studying medicine with us will provide you with an intensely practical medical education. Ulster’s MBBS programme will have a problem-based and interdisciplinary learning focus. This will enable you to graduate, not only demonstrating that you meet all the GMC ‘Outcomes for Graduates’, but that you are fully prepared to work as a member of an integrated health and social care team with a strong community focus, even for patients cared for by hospital specialists.

You will benefit from access to practice learning placements across the full range of medical specialist subjects, significant opportunities for primary care-based experience, and knowledge and appreciation of the interconnectivity between primary, secondary, social and community-based healthcare.

Northern Ireland is facing an unprecedented medical workforce shortage that will continue to impact negatively on the care of patients, their families and communities. Our medical school will help to ease the workforce challenges and future-proof our health service.

The MBBS programme is funded through the Northern Ireland executive as one element of an approach to addressing this shortage of doctors in Northern Ireland. In addition, the University’s Civic commitment is to enhance the wellbeing and economic prosperity of our society. We therefore encourage applications from individuals who are keen to join the medical workforce in Ireland. Applicants will not have to demonstrate knowledge of the Northern Ireland health system during the selection process but, in common with other medical schools in the UK, applicants will be expected to demonstrate their insight into the work of a doctor, and their commitment to work as a doctor following graduation.

Graduate entry medicine is an intense course of study and this course is therefore not available for part time study.

Ulster University has a global reputation for biomedical sciences research across the breadth of the medical sphere. Our School of Nursing, based at the Magee campus in Derry~Londonderry, is ranked fifth in the UK and 37th in the world. Our unparalleled stratified medicine research, which primarily takes place in the C-TRIC facility at Altnagelvin Hospital, is globally renowned for pioneering personalised treatments for chronic health conditions.

Highlights
Contact with patients from the fourth week of year one
Learn anatomy with an emphasis on technology and live imaging.
Patient-focused education with a strong emphasis on communicating with patients from a range of backgrounds
Opportunities to undertake student selected component (SSC) of study on areas of interest to you, in particular, we are keen to support students who have an interest in remote and rural medicine to pursue this via SSC and elective.
Problem Based Learning approach allowing you to learn basic and clinical sciences and psychosocial theory in the context of clinical cases.
Interprofessional education: Learning opportunities exist for our students to learn alongside one another reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of healthcare workplace environment.
Careers advice embedded into our teaching
Teaching is informed by our world class research which informs practice
Many lecturers are working clinicians

Here is a guide to the subjects studied on this course.

Courses are continually reviewed to take advantage of new teaching approaches and developments in research, industry and the professions. Please be aware that modules may change for your year of entry. The exact modules available and their order may vary depending on course updates, staff availability, timetabling and student demand. Please contact the course team for the most up to date module list.

Year 1
Clinical Sciences
The first year of the MBBS programme is the Clinical Science Year and introduces students, from a wide variety of backgrounds, knowledge and experiences, to the foundation knowledge required of a medical student and provides opportunities to put new knowledge and skills into practice on clinical placement in primary care setting. There is an emphasis on developing the relevant basic science necessary to recognise and understand signs and symptoms, the mechanisms that underpin these, and the ability to derive a set of pertinent differential diagnoses from their findings. The first year also introduces students to clinical and communication skills using models and simulated patients, and to appropriate personal and professional development and to the community and population context of care delivery.

Year 2
Medicine (Transition Year)
The second year of the MBBS programme is the Transition (T) Year, where students are transitioning into further clinical practice. T year includes an 18-week Problem Based Learning (PBL) programme which will rotate with 5-week clinical attachments in General Practice, Medicine and Surgery, followed by a 3-week Student Selected elective placement.

Teaching in T year links the learning within PBL with the underlying science, and primary and secondary care patient management. As with year 1, clinical and communication skills sessions continue to be carried out using models and simulated patients on-campus but are now also carried out in practice with real patients under appropriate supervision.

Year 3
Medicine (Penultimate Year)
The third year of the MBBS programme is the Penultimate (P) Year, where students spend the vast majority of their time on clinical placements, gaining practical experience of various medical and surgical specialties. Students extend the scope and depth of their learning in specialty placements and senior medicine and surgery. Clinical interviewing and examination increasingly support hypothesis generation, differential diagnosis skills and management planning. Students are supported to increase fluency in selected clinical procedures.

Year 4
Medicine (Final Year)
The fourth year of the MBBS programme, the Final (F) Year, is a year of Advanced Clinical Practice where students are supported to achieve the mastery standard required for foundation practice, and expand their horizons with public health experience, the final year Student Selected Component, and an Elective. During the assistantships in medicine, surgery and general practice, a one-to-one apprenticeship with a foundation doctor or general practitioner, allows students to achieve the standard of teamwork and clinical practice expected in foundation years. Rotations in critical care and anaesthetics and accident and emergency complete the F year programme.

Assessment methods vary and are defined explicitly in each module. Assessment can be a combination of examination and coursework but may also be only one of these methods. Assessment is designed to assess your achievement of the module’s stated learning outcomes. You can expect to receive timely feedback on all coursework assessments. This feedback may be issued individually and/or issued to the group and you will be encouraged to act on this feedback for your own development.

Coursework can take many forms, for example: essay, report, seminar paper, test, presentation, dissertation, design, artefacts, portfolio, journal, group work. The precise form and combination of assessment will depend on the course you apply for and the module. Details will be made available in advance through induction, the course handbook, the module specification, the assessment timetable and the assessment brief. The details are subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. You will be consulted about any significant changes.

Normally, a module will have 4 learning outcomes, and no more than 2 items of assessment. An item of assessment can comprise more than one task. The notional workload and the equivalence across types of assessment is standardised. The module pass mark for undergraduate courses is 40%. The module pass mark for postgraduate courses is 50%.

Award: Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery

* This course is undergoing academic validation. Please note that the information displayed here is subject to change as part of this process.

Professional recognition
General Medical Council (GMC)
Accredited by the General Medical Council (GMC), this primary medical qualification entitles the holder to apply to the GMC for registration to practise medicine in the UK.

Work placement / study abroad
You will benefit from access to practice learning placements across the full range of medical specialist subjects, significant opportunities for primary care-based experience, and knowledge and appreciation of the interconnectivity between primary, secondary, social and community-based healthcare. The programme will prepare you for 21st Century healthcare including the challenges of managing an ageing population, caring for patients with multiple Long Term Conditions, and managing the profound impact of mental health and distress on patients; and there will be an added element of cross-border collaboration focusing on remote and rural medicine. Students will spend over 83 core weeks on clinical placement, with the opportunity of spending up to 30 per cent of this within a primary care.

In Final Year you will undertake a medical elective, which can be taken in the United Kingdom or Ireland, with a number of students taking the opportunity to experience medicine from a global perspective, although an international elective is optional and is funded by the student. It is hoped there might be bursaries available to students to support the cost of overseas electives.

Ulster University,
Northland Rd,
Londonderry
BT48 7JL
T: 02870 123 456