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New medical schools

From June 2007, four medical schools in the UK were – for the first time - able to award their own primary medical qualifications. The schools have all completed a quality assurance program carried out by the General Medical Council.

The four schools include two new medical schools, University of East Anglia Medical School and Peninsula Medical School. Two existing medical schools, Warwick Medical School and Cardiff Medical School can now begin awarding degrees independently from their parent universities, having completed the GMC’s Quality Assurance program. This brings the total number of medical schools as recognised in the Medical Act from 23 to 27.

Part of the GMC’s responsibility as the UK’s medical regulator is to set standards for basic medical education and to ensure that these standards are met. To do this the GMC regularly visits and assesses medicals schools. New schools must pass the GMC’s thorough assessments before they can award degrees. The GMC sets the standard that students must demonstrate to graduate but schools devise their own curriculum to enable students to meet the standards. A quality teaching environment will enable medical students to put into practice the principles that the GMC expect of doctors throughout their careers.

Professor Peter Rubin, chair of the GMC Education Committee says:

"We work closely with new medical schools, engaging with them well before their first intake of students. Under our Quality Assurance for Basic Medical Education program, we put the schools through a rigorous five-year assessment, taking account of developments in educational theory and research, and professional practice.

"For this work we bring in a diversity of educational, lay and medical experts, who can highlight good practice and also share innovations in medicine across a range of specialist fields.

"'Tomorrow’s Doctors’, our guidance for medical schools, is designed to take a practical, outcomes-based approach, with emphasis on ensuring that medical students are going to be able to put into practice the principles laid out in ‘Good Medical Practice’, our core guidance for doctors."

The GMC has pioneered a world-class quality assurance framework designed to drive high standards across medical education. It is in the interests of both doctors and patients that the UK has the highest quality of training and medical education which promotes equality and values diversity in order to prepare medical students for a career in medicine.