Transfer students
This section only applies to those who are transferring from St Andrews or IMU (and for the occasional Oxbridge transfer). The information is not relevant otherwise.
The MBChB at the University of Edinburgh is a six year programme. We are looking forward to welcoming you into year 3 or year 4 of this six year programme.
When we changed the programme length, we also revisited the start dates and lengths of the clinical years in an attempt to improve the balance of the course. With this in mind, it does mean that our year 4 is expected to commence the week beginning 5th August 2024. We hope this will result in a better student experience overall and allow you to engage with clinical medicine at the earliest opportunity.
We will send you a schedule of events closer to the start date.
Offer Pack
It is vital that you read this information. Failure to supply the additional information we require means we will not be able to confirm your place, register you with UCAS, create an enrolment record for you or provide CAS numbers for those requiring visas.
Check List
Please send this sheet with all the information you need to send to us and use it to make sure you have included all that we require.
Criminal Record Disclosure
The Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme is a disclosure scheme that all Medical students have to join. Students from the University of St Andrews will be contacted to provide us with verified copies of their original documents via email by a specified deadline for 2024 entry. For our IMU transfer students; please refer to your offer letter which will list all of the verified documents you need to obtain and email to us prior to the end of May 2024. Once we have received all verified copies of supporing documentation we will initiate a PVG application for you with Disclosure Scotland and send you an email to let you know this has been done. Once this is initiated; Disclosure Scotland will contact you directly with a link to complete a full application form including payment which must be returned to them within 14 days. You must meet this deadline otherwise your application with them will be cancelled. They will provide you with guidance notes on how to complete and submit the form to them but these are also provided below.
A verified copy of an original document is one that has been signed by a working professional that knows you and has confirmed your original documentation matches the copy you have taken. A few examples of a professional may be your doctor/nurse, family lawyer or a teacher/lecturer/member of support staff at your school/place of study that is confirming to us that the copy we are receiving is a true copy of the original.
We would therefore advise that you should complete the following steps:
- Take photocopies of your original documents
- Take these photocopies and your original documents to the eligible person who is going to verify them
- On the photocopies ask them to compare them against each of the originals and once they are happy ask them to:
- Sign and print their name
- Detail their place of work/job title
- Date with the current date of when they are verifying your document
- Include the text (in their verification) that “This is a true verified copy of XXXXXXXX” (XXX say what the original document is eg passport).
You can find out more information on the PVG Scheme below:
If you are transferring from the IMU in Malaysia; in addition to completion of a PVG application; you are ordinarily required to provide us with a Criminal Record Check from your country of residence as well as Malaysia (if you are not ordinarily resident in Malaysia). There are however some countries from within the EU where you are not required to provide this. In addition; if you have lived outside of the UK or any of the exempt countries listed below for a period of six months or more (in a single period) either in the last 10 years or since the age of 16 you must also provide us with a Criminal Record Check from that country:
Countries within the EU exempt from having to provide a Criminal Record Check: France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Lithuania; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Spain
We have provided guidance on how to obtain a Criminal Record Check below.
The Self-Declaration Certificate must be completed by International students if you are unable to provide a Certificate of Good Conduct from your normal country of residence.
Finance & Living Costs
Financial Guarantee
The University requires the submission of evidence from international students of adequate funds to cover the cost of study throughout your period of attendance.
Estimated living costs
Edinburgh Global provides a handy estimate of the cost of living in Edinburgh as a student.
Fee Deposits
Neither UK/RoI or EU/international transfers are required to pay deposits.
Accommodation
Accommodation Services offer accommodation to cover your studies prior to September. Should you wish to take up this offer, an application is no longer required. All you need to do is email your request to Michelle.Tait@ed.ac.uk, with 'Medicine Transfer accommodation' as the email subject and our Accommodation Allocations team will get back to you. You need to do this by 31st May, otherwise we will assume that you do not wish to have University accommodation for this period.
Please note that this is limited and priority will be given to those who have not lived in the UK before.
If you wish to apply for University accommodation for the normal academic year, you need to apply through the usual channels on the Accommodation Services website once you have met all your conditions and have been registered on our EUCLID system. There is more information provided on this and much more through the Applicant Hub.
If you are offered University accommodation to cover the period from August to September and also from the start of the University's new academic year beginning the 9th of September 2024, you will have two contracts to accept, one for 2023/24 and one for 2024/25. Please make sure you check this on myEd once you have been offered accommodation.
Disability and Learning Support
Applicants are encouraged to declare any disabilities or learning difficulties prior to commencing the programme, so we can ensure we have the right support in place and that you are able to complete your programme of study. If a condition develops or is diagnosed after this point, even when you become a student, you should notify us so we can look into support arrangements for you.
Higher Education Occupational Physicians/Practitioners (HEOPS) have produced a document outlining the fitness standards expected of medical students. You can read this below:
University Student Disability Service
Please note that some exams are completed online. Adjustments cannot be made for providing printed materials in lieu of online exams. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the practice of medicine is on a rapid path to become paperless. That means that the timely and accurate working from a computer screen for recording, reading and getting key information, and choosing outcomes and investigations, without any reference to printed material, is now becoming an important competency. The postgraduate deanery is keen to ensure that working solely and efficiently on a computer interface is a key vocational skill. The second is that the national examinations, which are becoming increasingly important and have a direct impact on job applications, do not allow this adjustment. As these examinations are moving online it is important that the skills to excel in these important examinations are developed during our local assessment procedures.
Term Dates
Transfer of Information to Partner Institutions
In line with its partnership agreements relating to transfer of medical students into the MBChB programme, the University may share MBChB student progression information related to your cohort with your original institution, in line with GDPR UK policies.