Frequently Asked Questions

Changes will be introduced in stages. New Year 6 will start in the 2026-2027 academic year, new Years 1 and 4 in the 2027-2028 academic year, and finally new Years 2 and 5 in the 2028-2029 academic year.  

• Prospective students starting in September 2025 or 2026 will undertake the new Years 4-6 curriculum.
• Prospective students starting in September 2027 onwards will undertake the new MBBS curriculum from Year 1.
• Current Year 1 students, or students who will begin Year 4 from August 2027, will undertake the new Years 4-6 curriculum.  
• Current Year 2, 3 and 4 students, or students who will begin Year 6 on or after August 2026, will undertake the updated Year 6 curriculum.
• Current Year 5 and 6 students will undertake the current curriculum. 
   

Our students told us that they applied to UCL because of our structure and the focus on how the body works in the early years before moving onto the clinical application on clinical placements in Years 4, 5 and 6. 

Year 1 and 2 will each have three 7-week modules. This will standardise the timings for modules and include learning of all of the systems of the body. The modules will continue to run consecutively where all students complete each module in turn. 

Years 4-6 modules will continue to run in rotations, where students are split into groups and rotate around modules. For example, a student starting on Module A, will then complete Module B, followed by Module C. 

In Years 4 and 5, there will be intermodular weeks which will include consolidating the previous module and introducing the next module. The end of module week will be at the end of the year after the final module.
 

Our curriculum review has been informed by research and pedagogical principles. We have conducted an extensive literature review focused on designing and developing curricula within medical education. This process has been enriched by valuable feedback from a wide range of stakeholders, enabling us to propose a robust new curriculum structure. 

Additionally, our efforts have been guided by the standards and recommendations set by the General Medical Council (GMC), ensuring that our curriculum continues to meet the highest educational and professional standards.

Please email the Curriculum Review Team if you’d like to get involved.

FHMP offers great teaching and covers many important topics. However, students have told us that this module includes lots of topics with some that felt less connected to becoming a doctor. 

To make things clearer and more relevant, we’ve now moved these topics into relevant modules in Years 1 and 2. For example the topic of blood will move to sit within the Blood, Immunity and Infection module.

Foundations of science will be included at the start of modules where appropriate and there is an additional week at the start of Year 1 where students can learn key scientific principles. 

This module includes important topics within medicine which are advancing. Genetics and Genomics, and Cancer will now run as two themes and be included in every relevant module across the programme, forming part of the Applied Clinical Sciences strand. 

To reduce timetabling complexity, SSCs have been moved to sit in a block during Term 3 after Year 1 and 2 summative assessments. This aligns with UCL’s driver to ensure Term 3 forms a valuable part of the year for students. This will provide students an opportunity to focus on a particular area of interest after exams. 

This two-week block will help students prepare for their clinical placements in Year 4. The planning for this module will take place from Summer 2025. This cannot be placed during Year 3 as this year sits outside of the MBBS programme and due to the timing of iBSc assessments, there is not a window to deliver this. 

In the current curriculum, there is one Patient Pathway in each year. In line with our imperatives, we plan to enhance community-based practice and enhance clinical relevancy. Therefore, every module in Year 1 and 2 will have a Patient Pathway, now titled the Patient Journey, with clinical contact specific to the module. 

The iBSc will remain part of our programme in Year 3, aligning with UCL as an academic institution.

To reduce complexity, a small number of specialties have been moved between Years 4 and 5 to align with the year topics and modular structure. When reviewing each Year 4 and 5 module, it has been necessary to ensure that specialties align with rotations of students. 

Many medical schools have 6-week placement of these specialties and this length is usually necessary for eligibility to work abroad in the USA and other countries.

We know the importance of providing opportunities for students to explore a particular area of interest during their time at medical school. 

There is a 2-week SSC block after summative assessments at the end of Year 5. It was a priority to allow for a Late Summer Assessment that gave sufficient revision time and was completed within the year. This meant it was not possible for the SSC block to be longer than 2 weeks in length. Our SSC organisers feel it we can provide a valuable experience for students within the 2 weeks allocated.

During Year 6, a 4-week Preparation for FY1 block remains where students can increase their clinical experience in an area of particular interest. There is also an 8-week clinical elective which students can organise as a placement in the UK or abroad. 
 

To maintain the longitudinal teaching within your GP/Community placement, there will be dedicated GP/Community blocks within each of the three modules during Year 4. 

This will allow students to gain general experience in primary care and also experience related to the module.

Modules A and B include hospital specialties that can be undertaken at one of our central teaching sites. 

Module C includes specialties that are not present at every central site and therefore students will be placed at specific sites to undertake these placements. 

The main change to Year 6 is the integration of the ‘Long term conditions’ placement into the other clinical placements. This means that Year 6 will now consist of four 5-week attachments (Medicine, Surgery, Emergency Care and General Practice), rather than the five 4-week attachments it currently has. 

We are also better integrating clinical experience in Psychiatry, Women’s and Men’s health and Child and Adolescent Health to allow our students to prepare for the MLA.

We currently have no plans to change the sites we use for our clinical placements in Year 6.

Year 6 finishes as it currently does, with a post-examination block consisting of an 8-week elective and a 4-week Preparation for Practice SSC.

The late summer assessments (LSAs) will be completed earlier in the summer to allow the results in Years 4 and 5 to be released before the start of term.

Both the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA) that form the MLA will be completed in the final year, Year 6. 

Themes which run throughout the MBBS programme have been restructured to have two strands: Applied Clinical Sciences which will be integrated into relevant modules, and Clinical and Professional Practice which will continue as primarily small group teaching across modules. 

Year 2 small group sessions will move from a Friday morning to a Thursday afternoon from 2028-29. Year 4 small group sessions will move to a Wednesday morning to enable students to immerse themselves in their placements for full days. 

Year 4 Clinical Skills sessions will run during the GP/Community blocks to limit disruption to hospital placements. 

We will be including dedicated teaching on the use of AI in healthcare within a new module within the Applied Clinical Sciences strand. It will also be included in clinical placements where relevant.