University of Surrey medical school secures government-funded places
The School of Medicine hopes to train up to 80 medical students by 2028.
A new medical school in Surrey will be opening its doors to UK-funded medical students from next year.
The University of Surrey’s School of Medicine has been awarded 34 home medical student places to start in September 2025, representing a significant proportion of the 350 places shared across more than 30 medical schools nationally.
The institution is already scheduled to welcome international students in September 2024.
The announcement of UK-funded places is said to “turbo-charge” the University of Surrey’s contribution to filling the shortage of new medics required to meet the Government’s targets in the Long-Term NHS Workforce Plan.
Professor Juliet Wright, Founding Dean of the School of Medicine and practising consultant, physician and geriatrician, said: “We are delighted to be on track to open Surrey’s first medical school – and to be playing such a significant part in delivering the expansion in medical school places the government needs to deliver its NHS Workforce Plan.
“New doctors qualifying from Surrey will receive training that draws on the University’s expertise in biomedical science, clinical education, technology, and digital learning. We’ll be graduating doctors with the knowledge, skills and high professional standards required to meet the needs of patients in both community and hospital settings.”
Surrey’s Medical Programme offers an accelerated route to medical qualification, in the form of a Graduate Entry model – where students with a previous first degree can undertake a four-year medical training programme. This aligns with the government’s stated ambitions of creating additional routes into the medical profession, and the University anticipates applications including those from people already working in the NHS in allied careers as well as a wide variety of previous academic backgrounds.
Professor Max Lu, President and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Surrey, added: “The University of Surrey has a proud history of training nurses, paramedics and midwives for the NHS and of delivering research that has saved lives and advanced medical treatment. Our new School of Medicine completes the picture, and Surrey’s first medical school will soon be providing the NHS with doctors with comprehensive, clinically focused, modern training that will enable them to deliver excellent and compassionate care in the NHS of the future.”
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