Brunel Medical School is delighted to announce that it will be offering 50 places to UK ‘home’ students from September 2024 alongside its existing offering for international students.
The provisional allocation was announced this week by Steve Barclay, the Health and Social Care Secretary, as part of the Government’s initial 205-place enhancement of medical school provision across five universities.
Brunel Medical School welcomed its first intake in September 2022 of self-funded international students on the 5-year Medicine MBBS degree programme. The new allocation will be for home students – those living in the UK or Republic of Ireland, EU nationals with settled status in the UK, and refugee applicants – to start the course for the 2024/25 academic year.
The Government’s aim is to ensure that the National Health Service can address existing healthcare professional shortages and meet the challenge of a growing and ageing population by recruiting and retaining more staff over the next 15 years, as set out in its NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published in June. The initial expansion of medical school provision has now been brought forward by a year, as part of a commitment to double medical school places nationwide by 2030/31.
Professor Naomi Low-Beer, Dean of Brunel Medical School, welcomed the announcement: “I am delighted by the decision to allocate Brunel Medical School an initial 50 funded places for UK medical students from September 2024. For more than a year, our Medicine programme, designed to prepare future doctors for the changing NHS healthcare environment, has been running successfully for our international students, who have been making excellent progress.
“Brunel has a long track record of delivering a wide range of well-established healthcare courses. These additional funded places for medical students will further strengthen Brunel’s contribution to the NHS workforce and bring positive impact to the local community.”
Brunel’s MBBS programme was designed by international experts in medical education and is delivered on campus in Uxbridge using state-of-the-art teaching approaches, complemented by clinical placements with local healthcare partners. Students benefit from frequent interactions with the diverse local patient population, a focus on person-centred care, and an awareness of global healthcare challenges.
Professor Andrew Jones, Brunel University London’s Vice-Chancellor and President, said: “This announcement is exciting news that will make a significant difference to recruitment and retention in our local NHS Trusts, and to the healthcare services offered to the growing local population.
“The decision to bring forward the expansion of medical school provision by a year means that the increased healthcare needs of our growing local population will start to be met sooner. We would like to thank all those who contributed to this decision, in NHS England and in Government.
“Medical school places are always in high demand, and we anticipate and welcome significant interest from applicants, from the local community and beyond.”
Find out more about studying Medicine at Brunel Medical School. Details on how home students can apply will be published shortly.
Reported by:
Joe Buchanunn,
Media Relations
+44 (0)1895 268821
joe.buchanunn@brunel.ac.uk