Information for UK medical students
Contents
Undergraduate medical education - standards and guidance
Tomorrow's Doctors
The GMC sets the standards that medical schools must achieve and what is required of students in order to graduate. These standards are set out in our 2003 document Tomorrow's Doctors. The GMC has completed a comprehensive review of Tomorrow's Doctors.
Following a review of the 2003 guidance a revised edition of Tomorrow's Doctors was published in September 2009.
The standards and outcomes in Tomorrow's Doctors 2009 will apply from 2011-12.
Until that time Tomorrow's Doctors 2003 continues to apply.
You can read more about the review of Tomorrow's Doctors here.
Medical students: professional values and fitness to practise
We have also published guidance on Medical students: professional values and fitness to practise. This is joint guidance published with the Medical Schools Council, which represents the medical schools. The guidance sets out the professional behaviour expected of medical students.
Gateways to the Professions
With partners, we have also published advisory guidance for medical schools on encouraging disabled students through their studies.
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Undergraduate medical education - quality assurance
We need to make sure that medical schools meet the standards set out in Tomorrow's Doctors. We do this by getting information from medical schools, arranging visits to the schools by teams of experts and publishing reports on our findings. This process is called QABME - the Quality Assurance of Basic Medical Education.
We do not rank medical schools - our role is to make sure they all achieve the standards that we set.
Read our QABME reports on individual medical schools.
We do not deal with individual complaints from students - that role is carried out by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (external link - opens in a new window).
You will find lists of all UK medical schools, and of the schools providing graduate entry programmes and foundation courses, on the website of the Medical Schools Council (external link - opens in a new window).
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The Foundation Programme and postgraduate training
Nearly all UK graduates enter the two-year Foundation Programme which is organised by the postgraduate deaneries.
The New Doctor
The Foundation Programme is subject to standards and quality assurance that are jointly provided by the GMC and the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB). From April 2010, PMETB will merge with the GMC. The standards are called The New Doctor.
Quality Assurance
The GMC and PMETB make sure that the postgraduate deaneries meet the standards in The New Doctor through QAFP - the Quality Assurance of the Foundation Programme.
Read our QAFP reports on individual deaneries.
Find out more information about the Foundation Programme and postgraduate training here.
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The GMC learning from medical students
Medical students are the experts in what it's like to be a medical student. So:
- All the QABME visiting teams include medical students
- All the QABME reviews of medical schools incorporate meetings with students to find out what they think
- Medical students are involved and consulted as we develop our guidance and policies, including Tomorrow's Doctors and Medical students: professional behaviour and fitness to practise
- We issue a regular e-bulletin to interested students: subscribe here.
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Useful Links
For more information about medical schools, look at the website of the
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Contact Us
Please contact us if you would like any more information about the GMC's role and if you have any suggestions about how we should develop our guidance and standards, our quality assurance processes and our interaction with medical students. You can email education@gmc-uk.org.