Ulster University Medical School to open in 2021
Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill has confirmed that the graduate medical school at Ulster University's Magee campus will open in September 2021.
The deputy first minister said "This is a hugely important investment decision for the north-west, and it adds to the executive's recent announcement on the Derry and Strabane city deal and inclusive future fund,"
Ms O'Neill said the first 70 students would start their training in the north-west in 2021.
Professor Hugh McKenna, Ulster University’s Dean of Medical School Development, said: “Northern Ireland is facing an unprecedented medical workforce shortage that will continue to impact negatively on the care of patients, their families and communities. A new medical school will help to ease the workforce challenges and futureproof our health service.”
About the Northern Ireland Graduate Entry Medical School
The school will select students who have already completed an undergraduate degree and provide them with four years of intensive, practical medical education. Ulster’s MBBS programme will have a problem-based and interdisciplinary learning focus and will provide students with the knowledge, skills and behaviours required of new UK medical graduates, as set out in the GMC’s ‘Outcomes for Graduates’.
Students will benefit from access to practice learning placements across the full range of medical specialist subjects, enhanced opportunities for primary care-based experience, and a greater knowledge and appreciation of the interconnectivity between primary, secondary, social and community-based healthcare. The programme will address modern-day healthcare issues, such as chronic disease management, mental health, and gerontology, and will have an added element of cross-border collaboration. 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 setting.
Who can apply?
Students who have an undergraduate degree in any discipline can apply for entry. In addition to a 2:1 honours degree classification, selection criteria will include performance in the GAMSAT (Graduate Medical School Admissions Test) and a multiple mini interview process.
Find out more about The Northern Ireland Graduate Entry Medical School
