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Swansea University

UCAS Code: A101 | Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery - MB BCh

Entry requirements

GCSE/National 4/National 5

English and Maths minimum Grade C Wales (England Pre-2017) or Grade 4 (England Post-2017)

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About this course

Course option

4years

Full-time | 2025

Subjects

Pre-clinical medicine

Clinical medicine

Graduate Entry Medicine at Swansea University is one of just a handful of similar programmes of medical study in the UK open to graduates of any discipline.

This accelerated, four-year medical degree follows an innovative, integrated spiral curriculum designed to reflect the way in which clinicians approach patients and how patients present to doctors.

You will study the basic biomedical sciences in the context of clinical medicine, public health, pathology, therapeutics, ethics, and psycho-social issues in patient management.

Together with a strong focus on clinical and communication skills, you will develop the academic, practical, and personal qualities to practise medicine competently and with confidence.

You will have a high level of structured clinical contact as your studies progress, covering the following areas: clinical apprenticeships, including one week of nursing practice, junior assistantship, specialty attachments, including acute surgery, acute medicine, women’s health, child health, mental health, sub-specialities of medicine and surgery, and frailty, community-based learning, senior assistantship, shadowing F1 doctors and elective.

We are a relatively small medical school, so you will benefit from extensive contact with teaching staff and you will have contact with patients right from the first semester. You will join a university that is ranked 5th in the UK for Medicine according to the Times Good University Guide 2024.

Modules

The Programme consists of Phase I (Years 1 + 2) and Phase II (Years 3 + 4) with 3 Modules – Doctor as a Scholar and Scientist, Doctor as a Practitioner and Doctor as a Professional, reflecting the standards for medical education and training set out by the General Medical Council (GMC).

The innovative, patient-focused curriculum has been designed to reflect the way in which clinicians approach patients and how patients present to doctors, allowing students to develop a way of thinking and engaging with information that mimics real-life clinical practice. Through its spiral approach, students acquire layers of knowledge and consolidate learning by re-visiting topics through new cases, building up a repertoire of clinical undertanding and skills.

Core modules build the foundations of scientific knowledge and clinical skills required for the practice of medicine. They are structured around 6 body system ‘Themes’ - Behaviour, Defence, Development, Movement, Nutrition and Transport - with clinical cases presented in learning blocks.

Students participate in a combination of case-based lectures and skill building within a safe but clinically-focused environment. They are also introduced to the concept of professionalism - an approach that is essential for good medical practice.

Assessment methods

Assessment is closely matched to the curriculum, the defined learning outcomes and learning and teaching methods. Assessments in the Graduate Entry Medicine programme have three main functions.

1. To help focus students’ learning and to help demonstrate whether or not the standards have been achieved in respect to the defined learning outcomes.
2. To provide regular systematic information on students’ progress throughout the programme so that remedial action can be taken by students and staff as required.
3. To ensure that students progressing to the next stage of their training have met the prescribed learning outcomes.

The assessment approach reflects the teaching ethos of the programme by promoting continuing reflection on progress. Students are formally assessed at regular intervals during the course and these assessments use standard assessment formats throughout the entire four years of the course. Although the formats remain predominantly similar, their complexity and challenge increases in parallel with the abilities of the students. These assessments are, therefore, designed to measure global ability in the relevant domain with the aim of encouraging students to integrate and regularly maintain their knowledge and skills.

Extra funding

September 2024 Home £9000, International £43,850 Fees for full time Undergraduate UK students may be increased in subsequent years of study by an inflationary amount determined by Welsh Government.

Fees for full time Undergraduate EU/International students will increase by 3% for each subsequent year of study.

The Uni

Course location:

Singleton Park Campus

Department:

Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Science

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What students say

We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

79%
Pre-clinical medicine
79%
Clinical medicine

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Medicine (non-specific)

Teaching and learning

86%
Staff make the subject interesting
84%
Staff are good at explaining things
78%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
98%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

78%
Library resources
89%
IT resources
91%
Course specific equipment and facilities
45%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

91%
UK students
9%
International students
43%
Male students
57%
Female students

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
A

After graduation

The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Medicine (non-specific)

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

100%
med
Employed or in further education
50%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

100%
Health professionals

Medical degrees are some of the most difficult courses to enter, but very nearly all graduates go on to good, well-paid and secure careers in health. If you're taking a shorter pre-clinical course, you'll need to continue on to further medical training to complete an accredited qualification, which explains why a high proportion of those grads are 'in further study' six months later. And at the moment, the UK is short of doctors and we have upped the number of places available, so demand remains high.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Medicine (non-specific)

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£40k

£40k

£52k

£52k

£51k

£51k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

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This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here