Medicine MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery)
Uxbridge, United Kingdom
Bachelor's degree
DURATION
5 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
GBP 49,395 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for international | for UK students: 9,535 GBP per year
Key Summary
The National Health Service (NHS) and UK Foundation Programme
As a Brunel medical student, you’ll be learning medicine in our famous National Health Service (NHS). The experience gained will help prepare you for entry into the two-year UK Foundation Programme, to which all our MBBS graduates are eligible to apply.
Innovative curriculum
We take an evidence-based approach to learning and teaching. The Medicine MBBS curriculum has been designed by leading academics and clinicians working in partnership to provide the latest insights into medical advances and clinical practice.
Our curriculum incorporates digital technologies to enhance the way you learn and the environment that you learn in, and provides patient contact right from Year 1.
You'll be well prepared, for the changes in medical practice are accelerating, driven by molecular sciences, a greater understanding of the demographic variations in health and illness, and of the specific needs of individual patients.
Team-based learning (TBL)
Brunel Medical School uses TBL as the main method of classroom teaching. Working in teams of six in our purpose-designed TBL classroom, you exchange ideas and refine your understanding of the topics through discussions.
With this active-learning approach, you'll solve problems whilst developing life-long, transferable skills, highly relevant to medicine, under the guidance of clinicians and scientists.
Our programmatic approach to assessment with academic coaching means that you're kept informed of your progress throughout your studies, and you receive regular feedback to help you improve your learning.
Clinical and communication skills
Emphasis on the development of communications skills and clinical skills from Year 1 is demonstrated by dedicated spaces, in particular a suite of 18 video-equipped consultation rooms and the use of trained simulated patients as well as skills laboratories and simulated wards.
Simulation technology, manikins, virtual reality and augmented reality will also feature in your educational journey, and your learning will be enhanced by frequent feedback from your peers and from our educators.
Early patient contact
In parallel with the clinical and communication skills learned on campus, you'll also learn patient care via supervised interactions with real patients from Year 1, through regular placements in general practice (family medicine) clinics.
You'll learn to appreciate healthcare and illness from the patient perspective and understand how teams of professionals work together and make a difference to people’s lives.
Student support service
Studying medicine can at times be challenging, and being far from home in an unfamiliar environment can make things more difficult. At Brunel, we provide a comprehensive support system to build your resilience and help you flourish. All students are supported by our dedicated Student Support and Wellbeing team to make sure that any issue is addressed rapidly and sympathetically.
Our School House system creates a home away from home where students are supported by their peers, and expert tutors provide academic coaching to students.
Phase 1 is characterised by the acquisition of essential foundational knowledge, the development of skills and professional attitudes and the early introduction to patient contact, to prepare for the more clinically focused years.
Year 1
- Introduction to Medical Sciences 1
- Psychology, Sociology and Lifestyle Medicine
- Health Systems, Technologies and Population Health
- Professionalism, Ethics and Law
- Clinical Practice and Community Care
Includes the following components: Clinical Skills, Clinical Communication, Clinical Placements, Medical Humanities
Year 2
- Professionalism, Ethics & and Law
- Psychology, Sociology and Lifestyle Medicine
- Health Systems, Technologies and Population Health
- Pharmacology
- Introduction to Medical Sciences 2
- Nutrition, Digestion and Absorption
- Neuroscience, Special Senses & Behaviour
- Reproduction, Growth & Ageing
- Student Selected Component
- Clinical Practice and Community Care
Years 3 and 4 make up Phase 2 of the programme, which is characterised by an intensive clinical experience in a range of high-quality hospitals and primary care clinics across Greater London and South-East England. You will also have teaching on the Brunel Medical School campus every 6 weeks.
Year 3
In Year 3, you will rotate through a range of placements in hospitals, community mental health and primary care, where you will apply your knowledge and clinical and communication skills. In these patient-facing placements, you will learn to integrate clinical knowledge and patient care. Your placements in primary care settings will continue. You will receive feedback to improve your knowledge, professionalism, and skills from the clinical and academic teams.
Year 4
In Year 4, you will continue clinical rotations to include some more specialist areas such as paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, dermatology, ENT, ophthalmology, as well as primary care and others. You will learn about holistic patient management and further extend your knowledge and expertise. You will continue to receive feedback from the professionals with whom you will be interacting on a daily basis. This will prepare you for your final year of the programme.
Phase 3 is the final, 5th year of the programme.
Year 5
Year 5 is designed to help you prepare for the transition from student to junior doctor. This includes further placements in medicine, surgery, primary care, and emergency medicine, followed by the final MBBS Exams to include the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA). You will then undertake at least two Assistantship placements to prepare you for clinical practice as a Foundation Year 1 (FY1) doctor in the NHS, followed by an elective placement which may be overseas. You will be formally taught about safe prescribing and expectations of professional behaviour.
Graduate funding for the MBBS (home students only)
Graduates applying for our MBBS are unable to apply for a tuition fee loan from Student Finance England for the first four years of the programme, but you can apply for a Maintenance Loan.
From year five onwards, tuition fees will be paid by the NHS Student Bursary Scheme, and you'll be eligible to apply for a means-tested NHS bursary to cover maintenance costs and a reduced maintenance loan from Student Finance England.
Brunel graduates are eligible for the Brunel Alumni Discount.
You'll also have access to a non-means-tested grant of £1,000 as part of their NHS Bursary award.
After the MBBS
Achieving an MBBS degree from Brunel Medical School will provide you with a primary medical qualification (PMQ). Holding a PMQ allows you to apply for provisional registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) and a license to practise in approved Foundation Year 1 posts in the UK.
As a UK medical graduate, following successful award of the MBBS degree, you will be eligible to apply to the UK Foundation Programme for Foundation Year (FY) Clinical Training (subject to Visa Regulations at the time).
Please note that Foundation training is remunerated by the NHS Trusts to which you are allocated. International students will not be paying fees but will receive remuneration.
The Foundation School to which you are allocated will be dependent on your allocated FY1 post. *
Entry onto the Foundation Programme requires an applicant to have the right to work in the UK, and places on the programme are not guaranteed for every UK graduate. If successful and able to join the UK Foundation Programme, you will be a salaried junior doctor, with the first year (FY1) being the starting point for pursuing a medical career in the UK and it is also an excellent preparation for careers overseas.
*This information is correct as of January 2023, but please be aware that regulations in this area are subject to change.
Brunel Medical School has embraced a range of active, collaborative learning approaches which are student-centred and team-based.
Attendance at all timetabled learning activities is compulsory.
These include:
- Team-based learning (TBL) will take place in purpose-built facilities designed for teamwork. You will need to work on the preparatory materials (available online) ahead of the taught sessions.
- Communication skills small group teaching will be in-person, on-campus, in specially designed accessible rooms, enabling video recording and immediate in-person feedback from tutors and simulated patients.
- Anatomy practical sessions will take place in a specially designed facility, the Clinical Anatomy Suite, in-person, on campus. You will learn anatomy with hands-on access to preserved human anatomical specimens (plastinated specimens). These specimens, prosected and displayed to museum-quality standards, will help you develop an understanding of the three-dimensional arrangements of structures. These will be used together with medical imaging, which is how doctors visualise body structures and organs. You will also be guided in using ultrasound on models to give you real-time images of internal structures, which will help you appreciate anatomy in the living.
- Primary care placements will take place in General Practices. Patient contact is initially face-to-face, but later in the clinical course, you may learn about telephone or video consulting in selected sessions. Longitudinal case studies involve home visits to patients in pairs under the supervision of the clinical educators at your respective teaching sites.
- Clinical skills training will take place on campus in person. This type of training is hands-on with simulated patients or special equipment such as manikins. Videos illustrating specific skills in clinical examination have been prepared to allow prior study and revision. It will be possible to book the facility for practice sessions with staff available on-site during weekday working hours
Other small group teaching is in-person, on-campus, for example, Medical Humanities.