A guide to medical universities in the UK

This guide looks at the best places to study medicine in the UK, according to the leading newspaper league-tables.

Medicine in the UK

UK medical schools The UK medical schools are some of the best in the world, and getting into medical school in the UK is not an easy task. The best universities require high grades and high experience levels, and push candidates hard in order to best assess their suitability for medical study. Student satisfaction, teaching and feedback
The best medical schools are assessed on a number of points. Student satisfaction with the course, teaching and with study feedback is important, and all of the universities listed below score very highly on these points. Student to staff ratios There is also a consideration of student to staff ratios with the schools, with less pupils per staff member scoring more highly. Other considerations include how much money is spent per student, the number of students getting a job in the first six months after leaving and value-added scores (improvements in students etc).

The top five universities

The University of Oxford Oxford enjoys not only a high reputation for its university, but also specifically for its medicine courses. Some of the best surgeons in the world have studied their undergraduate medical degrees at Oxford University, and many have completed postgraduate university medical studies there. The University of Cambridge Like Oxford, Cambridge enjoys a strong reputation as a world leader in education provision, at both undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD levels. The alumni of Cambridge University includes world-renowned scholars, and practitioners in all areas of medicine. The University of Edinburgh Edinburgh has an excellent reputation, that extends not only into its facilities, but also into its patient-orientated approach to study. Edinburgh graduates are world-leaders in patient care, and exhibit a strong understanding of the role of doctors in recovery. Edinburgh prides itself on modern teaching facilities and methods. Dundee University Dundee exhibits a strong grasp of the changing world of doctors' work patterns and work loads and has adapted its teaching to reflect this. It also acknowledges the need to constantly be up-to-date with new technologies, and methods and aims to instill these values in its students. University College London UCL is the leading school of medicine in London, and has an excellent reputation for cutting edge research and teaching methods. The student body at UCL is diverse, and as one of the largest student medical bodies in the country, enjoys a multicultural environment of knowledge sharing.