Newcastle University Medical School

Newcastle University Medical School
Established	1834 (modern curriculum since 1962)
Type	College
Pro-Vice-Chancellor	Professor Chris Day
Location	Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear, England
Colours	Palatinate
Affiliations	Newcastle University
Website	ncl.ac.uk/biomedicine

This article is about the Medical School in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. For the Medical School in Newcastle, Australia, see University of Newcastle Medical School.

The University of Newcastle upon Tyne Medical School was established in 1834 in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and served as the College of Medicine in connection with Durham University from 1851 to 1937 when it joined Armstrong College, to form King's College, Durham. In 1963 King's College became the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. The university now uses the name "Newcastle University".

Curriculum

The medical school follows a modern, integrated, systems based curriculum, and was the first medical school in the country to operate an integrated medical curriculum.^[1] It operates in partnership with Durham University's medical school, which is based at the university's Queen's Campus. Students at both Newcastle and Durham study independently for the first two years, before all being assigned to one of four separate clinical base units for the third year. These base units are Tyneside, Northumbria, Wearside and Teesside. It is at these base units that the bulk of clinical teaching takes place. All students, including those from Durham, then go to Newcastle Medical School for their fourth year before returning to a base unit different from the one they attended in third year for their fifth and final year of university teaching. Again, this is an almost entirely clinical year.

The medical school also offers an accelerated medical programme, intended for students who have a previous degree in a different (often unrelated) discipline. This lasts four years, the first year covering the same material as the first two years of the five-year course. Second year "accelerated" students are then taught alongside the third year students from the five-year programme.

Ranking

Newcastle Medical consistently ranks as one of the top medical schools in the UK due to high levels of teaching and research. It is the first institution in the UK to be given permission to pursue stem-cell research. The BMC Medicine journal reported medical graduates from Oxford, Cambridge and Newcastle performed better in postgraduate tests than any other medical school in the UK.^[2]

As of 2008 the medical school admits some 327 British students per year with an additional 26 from overseas making it one of the largest medical schools in the UK.^[3] According to UCAS, Cambridge, Oxford and Newcastle are the most academically selective universities for entry to study medicine in the United Kingdom.^[4] Prospective students applying to the medical school for both the standard (five year) and accelerated (four year) programmes are required to sit the UKCAT admission test.^[5]

Malaysian campus branch

On 20 November 2008 the University announced that they were entering into an agreement to establish an international branch campus in Malaysia for the teaching of medical subjects. The development of the 13-acre (53,000 m²) site in Johor, marks Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed) as the 'anchor tenant' within the EduCity.^[6]

Staff moved into the NUMed Malaysia buildings on 3 May 2011, in preparation for students arriving in August.^[7] The Malaysian Bell's Court building features a section which is designed to look like the Arches in Newcastle upon Tyne.^[8]

References

1. ^ "175 years of medicine at Newcastle". Newcastle University Alumni Association. 2010-02-19. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/alumni/arches/page.htm?years-of-medicine-at-newcastle. Retrieved 2011-04-24. 
2. ^ "Call for medical training reform". BBC News. 2008-02-18. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7242897.stm. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
3. ^ "UK Medical School Statistics". ukmedicalschools.com. http://www.ukmedicalschools.com/index.php?pageid=stats. Retrieved 2008-09-08. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "UCAS". UCAS. 2008-09-15. http://www.ucas.com/. Retrieved 2008-03-29. 
5. ^ "UK Clinical Aptitude Test". UKCAT Consortium. http://www.ukcat.ac.uk/. Retrieved 2009-09-15. 
6. ^ "University signs agreement for branch campus in Malaysia". Newcastle University. 2008-11-20. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/content.phtml?ref=1227175604. Retrieved 2008-11-20. 
7. ^ "Malaysian campus ready to open its doors". NUMed Malaysia. 2011-05-03. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/numed/about/news/item/malaysian-campus-ready-to-open-its-doors-copy. Retrieved 2011-05-24. 
8. ^ "Gallery". NUMed. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/numed/about/campus/gallery/. Retrieved 2011-05-24. 

9. "Medicine". Durham University. http://www.dur.ac.uk/school.health/phase1.medicine/. Retrieved 2010-02-01. 

External links

• Faculty of Medicine at Newcastle University
• Applying to study medicine at Newcastle University
• Medical Sciences Research Directory at Newcastle University
• NUMed Malaysia (Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia)

Coordinates: 54°58′53″N 1°37′19″W / 54.9815°N 1.622°W / 54.9815; -1.622