Mission and Strategy

UCL sits in the heart of London and has educated doctors since 1834. We are a diverse and dynamic community, with a proud heritage of fostering a progressive approach to teaching and research. We encourage our staff and students to pursue excellence, challenge conventions and make an impact on real-world problems.  

UCL Medical School (UCLMS) is one of the largest in the country, providing a world-class education to undergraduate students in medicine and postgraduate students studying healthcare education. We work in partnership with world-renowned teaching hospitals and healthcare providers in the community, as well as national and international collaborators. We are currently ranked 1st in London and 6th in the world for Medicine (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024).

We aim to:

1.    Provide the best experience for our students:

Our graduates are UCL Doctors, UCL Clinical Educators and UCL Medical Education Researchers, who are highly capable professionals, equipped to deliver evidence-based best practice in their fields.

• The UCL Doctor is trained to practise medicine in a professional, patient-centred, inclusive, and sustainable way.
• The UCL Clinical Educator is trained to lead and develop healthcare education in an innovative and inclusive way.
• The UCL Medical Education Researcher is trained to lead and develop research that addresses contemporary challenges in medical education.

2.    Provide the best experience of healthcare for patients:

We work nationally and globally across our domains of education, research, knowledge exchange and enterprise, to ultimately improve:

• Patient care
• Health
• Healthcare workforce
• Healthcare policy

We will do this by:

• Culture: We will promote a respectful culture in which staff and students have freedom to experiment and innovate, in an inclusive environment where personal and professional development is encouraged. Through our graduates’ contributions in the workplace, we aim to extend this culture across healthcare education and practice.
• Education: We will ensure that our graduates are best prepared to deliver high-quality healthcare, education and research, and are equipped to excel in response to the demands of the current and future health landscape. 
• Research: We will build on our reputation as an international leader in the fields of healthcare education, policy, workforce, and equality.
• Knowledge exchange & enterprise: We will develop dynamic partnerships that lead the advancement and transformation of healthcare globally. Harnessing our networks of education, research and clinical practice, we will collaborate with local, national and global organisations, to advance healthcare education and practice.

Our values and strengths are:

• Focusing on the student experience
• Scholarly excellence and critical application of knowledge
• Responding to complexity and uncertainty in healthcare
• Working and learning in a multi-professional environment
• Respect and inclusivity
• Digital and technological literacy
• Adaptability and ability to innovate
• Readiness for change
• Ethical and sustainable practice
• Cultivating future leaders 
• Access to world class clinical organisations and facilities

Culture

Our focus on improving healthcare education and practice both nationally and globally, enables us to attract and retain leaders in their fields. Moreover, we nurture aspirational early career individuals as the next generation of global healthcare leaders. Our culture supports independent thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and autonomy, to promote excellence in all our endeavours.

Our multi-disciplinary community engenders a diverse and respectful culture that permeates all aspects of our work. We prepare our graduates to meet future challenges, enabling them not only to thrive, but also to play a central role in leading the evolution of healthcare.  

We will:

• Ensure that our staff and students have a reputation for excellence, creativity and collaboration.  
• Generate new approaches to address challenges in healthcare, healthcare education and healthcare education research.  
• Ensure that our graduates are highly educated professionals, prepared to: 
  • thrive in contemporary workplaces
  • deliver high-quality healthcare, education and research
  • embody and disseminate best practice
• Encompass UCL’s Grand Challenges in our practice, which focus on data-empowered societies, climate change, mental health and wellbeing.

Education

Our mission is to enhance clinical practice by providing the highest standard of teaching to our medical students, doctors and multi-disciplinary professionals. As well as our undergraduate MBBS, we offer a range of learning opportunities for professionals who wish to advance their careers in clinical and professional education, through Master’s degrees, PhDs and executive education in healthcare. 

We will:

• Ensure that our curricula, teaching and assessments enable our graduates to excel in their healthcare, education and research careers.
• Utilise institutional expertise to deliver curricula supporting digital and AI literacy, critical thinking and innovation.
• Ensure that UCLMS faculty role-model our values, disseminating our culture of:
  • promoting wellbeing
  • providing support
  • offering space to innovate to all our staff and students.
• Use our shared values to create an education continuum, from undergraduate to postgraduate, with the goal of improving patient care and population health.  

Research

We have one of the UK’s top medical education research profiles. We work to elevate medical education research through high-quality publications, collaborations and knowledge exchange.  

Our areas of expertise are:

• Clinical and professional practice 
• Medical school selection
• Widening participation 
• Undergraduate and postgraduate education and assessment
• Differential attainment
• Revalidation
• Health and healthcare equality
• Health and wellbeing of the workforce
• Policy and impact

Our partners include the General Medical Council, Department of Health, NHS England and the Royal College of Physicians.

We will:

• Expand our research and scholarship through internal and external collaborations, building capacity and delivering impactful research.
• Build on our reputation as global leaders by conducting novel, systematic and inter-disciplinary research to provide the evidence that underpins transformation in healthcare systems worldwide.
• Attract significant high-profile research grants.
• Achieve an excellent review at the next Research Excellence Framework. 

Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise

We aim to lead the advancement and transformation of healthcare globally. By harnessing our ecosystem of education, training, research and clinical practice, we collaborate to serve local, regional and global populations.

Through our UCL Centre for International Medical Education Collaborations (CIMEC), we share knowledge across the medical landscape, building meaningful national and international partnerships with both new and established institutions.

Our areas of expertise are:

• Curriculum and faculty development
• Enabling students through partnership
• Assessment design
• Quality assurance
• Policy and strategy

In developing and leading collaborations, we enable organisations to foster positive impacts on staff, students, local communities and wider society.  We work in close collaboration with partners to understand their development needs and tailor our support to best address the specific context. Our goal is to empower organisations to be driven by their own values and purpose.

We will:

• Leverage our extensive experience in educating scientists and doctors to develop innovative and sustainable practices in healthcare education. 
• Foster our culture of inclusion and respect to continually learn reciprocally with our partners.
• Empower educators, nurture learners and develop a shared understanding with our partners that informs the co-creation of new ideas. 
• Promote a synergistic network that builds expertise across multi-disciplinary communities, cultivating educators to have a global impact on healthcare.
• Ensure successful delivery of existing collaborations and contracts, and secure future multi-year partnerships.
• Enhance medical education practice both nationally and globally.

With acknowledgments to UCL Medical School staff and the Senior Academic Strategy Group.

If you have any queries or comments, please feel free to get in touch at UCL Medical School, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT or uclmsdirectorate@ucl.ac.uk.