News

Medical schools have made five successful bids to run MSC Summer Schools next year.

Funded by Health Education England, MSC Summer Schools are residential events for young people in England who are thinking about a career as a doctor, in particular those who are from areas where few students apply to study medicine.

At an MSC Summer School they learn about what it takes to work as a doctor, from clinical and communications skills to the values that underpin the profession. Host medical schools create their own programmes while drawing from teaching resources developed by key bodies in the sector, including the Royal Colleges.

Following the successful first year of MSC Summer Schools, the number of events is growing from four in 2019 to five in 2020, with eight medical schools participating.

MSC Summer Schools in 2020 will be hosted by:

• The University of Exeter
• Imperial College London
• The University of Leicester
• A collaboration between Brighton and Sussex Medical School and Kent and Medway Medical School
• A collaboration between Lancaster University, Edge Hill University and the University of Liverpool

Dr Paul Garrud, Chair of the MSC Selection Alliance, said:

“Congratulations to the medical schools who will be hosting events next year. It’s especially pleasing to see some collaborations between medical schools, which show how keen the sector is to pull together when it comes to widening access to the medical profession.

“The Selection Alliance has embodied this spirit of co-operation for several years now, and it’s amazing to see what the medical schools have collectively achieved. This initiative, for instance, is not just the provision of funding and teaching resources, but is guided by nationwide data analyses of ‘cold spots’ in applications to medicine, ensuring its approach is evidence-based.

“We thank Health Education England for helping this all to happen.”

Katie Adams, National Senior Programme Manager – Widening Participation at Health Education England, said:

“Health Education England’s widening participation programme has championed a range of programmes including supporting students from under represented backgrounds into medicine for some years now with the aim to encourage social mobility and ensure our NHS is more representative of the diverse communities it serves.

“We are delighted to be able to continue this support by funding these summer schools across England as they will reach out to students who previously may have thought medicine was beyond them.”

Applications for MSC Summer Schools in 2020 are expected to begin in late 2019. Dates and further information will be published on the Medical Schools Council website and host medical school websites.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors

1. The Medical Schools Council is the representative body for UK medical schools. The council is made of the heads of UK medical schools and meets in order to shape the future of medical education and research in the UK. www.medschools.ac.uk.
2. The Selection Alliance was set up in 2015 to implement recommendations from the two-year Selecting for Excellence project, in particular to widen access to medicine and to make selection equitable, transparent and evidence-based. The Alliance comprises admissions deans and tutors from all UK medical schools. www.medschools.ac.uk/our-work/selection/msc-selection-alliance
3. Beginning in 2015, the Selection Alliance has compiled a national map of all outreach from medical schools biennially. ‘Cold spots’ – areas where little or no outreach was in operation in 2015 and 2017 – have been targeted by several initiatives, including the MSC summer schools. To learn more, see Section 3 of the Selection Alliance 2018 Report. www.medschools.ac.uk/media/2536/selection-alliance-2018-report.pdf
4. For more information about this press release, contact Edward Knight, Senior Communications Officer, on 020 7419 5427 or edward.knight@medschools.ac.uk.