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Oncology PG Dip

London, Bloomsbury

This flexible Postgraduate Diploma in Oncology is ideal for busy clinicians aspiring to become consultants in clinical or medical oncology. The programme is taught mostly online with short face-to-face teaching blocks on-campus in London each term and weekly remote tutorials to fit easily around your existing commitments. Clinically focused modules provide an in-depth understanding of the underlying basis of cancer processes and its treatment, for direct application into your clinical practice.

UK students International students
Study mode
UK tuition fees (2024/25)
Fees to be confirmed
£3,500
Part-time = 2 years.

Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Overseas tuition fees (2024/25)
Fees to be confirmed
£8,700
Part-time = 2 years.

Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Duration
2 calendar years
5 calendar years
Programme starts
September 2024
Applications accepted
All applicants: 16 Oct 2023 – 28 Jun 2024
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

Applicants must possess an undergraduate medical degree (i.e. MBBS or equivalent from a recognised institution) and have completed foundation training (or equivalent basic postgraduate clinical training). Applicants must have full and current registration with the UK General Medical Council (or international equivalent) and be in clinical practice in an oncological specialty with access to patients for the duration of the programme.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 3

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

For this programme, please contact our UCL Graduate Admissions team.

About this degree

This postgraduate diploma provides oncologists, particularly registrars and training doctors, with the essential knowledge of cancer science and clinical practice to enhance your skills for the next stage in your career. It is ideal for ambitious clinicians who want to gain a deeper understanding of cancer biology, therapeutics and cancer care.

Our syllabus maps onto the UK General Medical Council curriculum for the specialist registrar training for medical oncology and clinical oncology. During the first registrar year ('Oncology Common Stem'), you will gain in-depth experience of both specialties, before selecting a specialist training programme for the postgraduate diploma.

To help you fit your studies around existing commitments, we combine interactive online teaching each week with mandatory three-day blocks of face-to-face teaching in London each term and weekly remote tutorials. You will network with colleagues and supervisors in-person and online, and benefit from specialist clinical and cancer science expertise from the UCL Cancer Institute, University College London Hospital, Francis Crick Biomedical Research Institute, the Royal Free Hospital, London, and associated hospitals.

When you have completed the modules, you can graduate with a postgraduate diploma or advance to the MSc award.

All NHS employees will be assessed to see if they can be considered as home fee students.

Who this course is for

The programme is ideal for busy oncologists, particularly those on a UK or international training programme. It is targeted at those wanting to prepare for a career in oncology including undertaking the FRCR Part 1 examinations for Clinical Oncology, the Final FRCR and the Specialty Certificate Examination for Oncology (Medical Oncology).

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

  • Essential knowledge of cancer basic science and clinical practice to advance your career and enhance your skills in cancer research.
  • The foundations for professional qualifications, including the first and final fellowship examinations of the Royal College of Radiologists in clinical oncology and the Specialty Certificate Examination in Medical Oncology of the Royal Colleges of Physicians.
  • Flexibility - we combine weekly online teaching with intensive three-day teaching blocks on-campus each term that will help you fit your studies around other commitments.
  • Network with colleagues and supervisors on day-release taught days alongside distance learning on sophisticated virtual platforms.
  • Opportunities to network with colleagues and supervisors in-person and online.
  • Specialist clinical and cancer science expertise from the UCL Cancer Institute, University College London Hospital, Francis Crick Biomedical Research Institute, the Royal Free Hospital, London, and associated hospitals.
Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

Students on this course are committed to careers in medical oncology or clinical oncology. This postgraduate diploma will help you to advance your career to a more specialised level and to become more established as a practitioner.

You will develop your knowledge, clinical skills, and specialist expertise. Also, studying aspects of your specialty in greater depth will help you prepare for site specialist practice.

Employability

Most PGDip Oncology UK graduates will become consultants in one or other specialty, either in an NHS based predominantly clinical service role or in an academic position. There are also a range of alternative career paths that will suit graduates, for example in industry.

International applicants will be equipped with UK specialist oncology knowledge, training and experience to apply to their own career and practice around the world.

Whatever the destination, the PGDip Oncology provides a range of transferable skills that will benefit you in your career pathway. It also provides the foundation to proceed to the MSc, which provides important research skills for academic, policy and industry roles.

Networking

You will network with colleagues and supervisors in-person and online, and benefit from specialist clinical and cancer science expertise from the UCL Cancer Institute, University College London Hospital, Francis Crick Biomedical Research Institute, the Royal Free Hospital, London, and associated hospitals.

Teaching and learning

The programme is delivered through a combination of:

  • Intensive three-day blocks of face-to-face teaching
  • Online lectures and clinical examples
  • Research appraisal and journal clubs
  • Practical sessions and group discussions
  • Self-directed reading and learning, supported by weekly tutorials and workshops.

We accommodate a range of learning styles. Our teaching includes tutorials, group work, online and live lectures, online and live seminars and tutorials, case reviews and interpretation of clinical images and data. Recorded lectures and audio recordings of some topics will also be available.

We use the learning platform, Moodle, to direct you to relevant publicly available websites and to other learning materials to support your learning.

You will also receive support and feedback from module leads and lecturers on the course content and have a personal tutor for pastoral support and to monitor your progress.

The assessments include:

  • Short answer exam questions to test your core knowledge.
  • A written review of a clinical trial to develop critical evaluation skills.
  • Written patient treatment plans to apply principles of radiotherapy and pharmacology to specific clinical contexts.
  • Various communication platforms (including social media) to test your communication skills to a range of lay and specialist audiences.

Oral skills are developed through regular group discussions and assessed through poster presentations.

Your contact hours and independent study requirements will depend on the modules you select every year. Most students will have weekly online tutorials and attend a block of three days per term in London.

A 15-credit module includes 18 hours of face-to-face group learning (in a block of three days), 27 hours of online courses, and four hours of tutor meetings. You should allow approximately 100 hours for self-directed learning and preparing for your assessments.

If you study 60 credits per year, you should expect to spend roughly one day per week towards your award.

Modules

You study 60 credits per year for two years, as detailed below, and may choose to transfer to the master's dissertation for a third year.

Both medical and clinical oncology specialties work together for the first year ('Oncology Common Stem' year) for you to gain in-depth experience of the other specialty. It then splits into the two specialist training programmes in the second year. The face-to-face sections include cross-cutting themes in Oncology, including learning and research skills teaching.

Year one

Year one covers the curriculum for the FRCR Part 1 Clinical Oncology examinations in the UK, encountered at the end of the Oncology Common Stem training year. The science base is illustrated in four common tumour types (lung, breast, colorectal and prostate) as exemplars of fundamental oncology principles.

You study two compulsory 30-credit modules:

  • Fundamentals of Oncology Science  
  • Fundamentals of Oncology Therapeutics.

Year two

Year two prepares you to pass the Final FRCR and the Specialty Certificate Examination for Oncology (Medical Oncology). We focus on the management of less common tumour sites and the role of other oncology disciplines.

You study three compulsory 15-credit modules:

  • Cancer Management 1
  • Cancer Management 2
  • Cancer Management 3.

You also choose one 15-credit module from the following:

  • Specialist Systemic Therapy 
  • Specialist Radiation Therapy.

This is very similar to the part-time option but gives you the flexibility of going more slowly.

In this modular programme, both medical and clinical oncology specialties work together for the first registrar year ('Oncology Common Stem' year) for you to gain in-depth experience of the other specialty. It then splits into the two specialist training programmes in the second year. The mandatory face-to-face sections include cross-cutting themes in Oncology, including learning and research skills teaching.

We recommend that you study 60 credits per year for two years, as detailed below. However, you can study fewer modules per year, and also extend to the master's dissertation, provided you complete within five years.

Year one

Year one covers the curriculum for the FRCR Part 1 Clinical Oncology examinations in the UK, encountered at the end of the Oncology Common Stem training year. The science base is illustrated in four common tumour types (lung, breast, colorectal and prostate) as exemplars of fundamental oncology principles.

You study two compulsory 30-credit modules:

  1. Fundamentals of Oncology Science  
  2. Fundamentals of Oncology Therapeutics.

Year two

Year two prepares you to pass the Final FRCR and the Specialty Certificate Examination for Oncology (Medical Oncology).

We focus on the management of less common tumour sites and the role of other oncology disciplines.
You study three compulsory 15-credit modules:

  • Cancer Management 1
  • Cancer Management 2
  • Cancer Management 3.

You also choose one 15-credit module from the following:

  • Specialist Systemic Therapy
  • Specialist Radiation Therapy.

Compulsory modules


Fundamentals of Oncology Therapeutics

Cancer Management 1

Cancer Management 2

Cancer management 3


Optional modules

Specialist Systemic Therapy

Specialist Radiation Therapy


Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 120 credits. Upon successful completion of 120 credits, you will be awarded a PG Dip in Oncology.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble accessable.co.uk. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing team.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time Part-time
Tuition fees (2024/25) Fees to be confirmed £3,500
Tuition fees (2024/25) Fees to be confirmed £8,700

Part-time = 2 years.

Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.

Additional costs

  • Travel and accommodation to attend the termly face-to-face teaching blocks at our Bloomsbury campus in London. (Some guidance on living costs is available.) We may also travel locally to other sites (e.g. Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead) for some activities. Discover the cost of using public transport at Transport for London.
  • Equipment: you will need access to a computer and webcam and a reliable internet connection, as most of this course is online. When you come to London for the face-to-face components, you will be able to access computers on campus.

For more information on additional costs for prospective students please go to our estimated cost of essential expenditure at Accommodation and living costs.

Funding your studies

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

Next steps

There is an application processing fee for this programme of £90 for online applications and £115 for paper applications. Further information can be found at Application fees.

As part of your application, we would like to know:

  • Why you want to study oncology at graduate level.
  • Why you want to study oncology at UCL.
  • What particularly attracts you to this programme.
  • How your academic, professional, and personal background meets the demands of this programme.
  • Where you would like to go professionally with your degree.

Your personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying will match what the programme will deliver.

Further requirements

If you are working with the public, you will be subject to screening by UCL Occupational Health and through the Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

You will need to consent to vaccinations to protect yourself and patients, if relevant. You must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

International students who apply to this programme are not eligible for a regular student visa for full-time study in the UK. To attend the on-campus teaching sessions for this course, international students will ordinarily use a UK Standard Visitor visa for study. For any visa queries, please contact the UCL Student Immigration Compliance Team.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2024-2025

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

Cancer Institute
Cancer Institute

ci.pgeducation@ucl.ac.uk

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