Surgical Sciences (Online Learning) MSc, PgProfDev

Our online learning technology is fully interactive, award-winning and enables you to communicate with our highly qualified teaching staff from the comfort of your own home or workplace.

Our online students not only have access to Edinburgh’s excellent resources, but also become part of a supportive online community, bringing together students and tutors from around the world.

The University of Edinburgh offers a number of outcome awards from its Surgical Sciences programme from short Postgraduate Professional Development (PPD) courses to Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma and Master of Science

All courses are delivered online using methods that are fully supported by the University’s award-winning online learning environments.

Core Courses

PPD

• Writing in Surgery

Year 1: Certificate

• Cardiorespiratory Science
• Endocrine, Breast and Cell Biology
• Gastrointestinal Surgery
• Locomotor
• Urology and ENT/OMFS

Year 2: Diploma

• Pre-operative Assessment and Per-operative Care
• Surgical and Communication Skills
• Critical Care & Trauma
• Principles of Surgical Management
• Academic Surgery

Year 3: Masters

You must complete 60 credits in Year 3. You have two options in Year 3:

• Dissertation; or
• Evidence Based Surgery

Postgraduate Professional Development (PPD)

PPD is aimed at working professionals who want to advance their knowledge through a postgraduate-level course(s), without the time or financial commitment of a full Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate.

You may take a maximum of 50 credits worth of courses over two years through our PPD scheme. These lead to a University of Edinburgh postgraduate award of academic credit. Alternatively, after one year of taking courses you can choose to transfer your credits and continue on to studying towards a higher award on a Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate programme.

Although PPD courses have various start dates throughout a year you may only start a Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate programme in the month of September.

Any time spent studying PPD will be deducted from the amount of time you will have left to complete a Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate programme.

This programme currently offers a 10 credit 'Writing in Surgery Course' as PPD. There are plans to develop more courses that will be launched in 2023. Please contact the programme team for more information about available courses and course start dates.

• Read more about the programme content

Find out more about compulsory and optional courses

We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.

The Certificate, Diploma and Masters programmes are designed to let you study towards your MRCS in a flexible way. The short PPD course will enhance your knowledge and skills in surgical writing, editing and evidence based surgical practice.

• Read testimonials from former students

These entry requirements are for the 2023/24 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2024/25 academic year will be published on 2 October 2023.

An accredited medical degree (MBChB or equivalent). You must be in a supervised clinical environment while you are studying.

Students from China

This degree is Band D.

• Postgraduate entry requirements for students from China

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country

English language requirements

You must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies, regardless of your nationality or country of residence.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 6.5 with at least 6.0 in each component.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 92 with at least 20 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 176 with at least 169 in each component.
• Trinity ISE: ISE II with distinctions in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 62 with at least 59 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than three and a half years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Find out more about our language requirements:

• English language requirements

Deposit

You will be required to pay a non-refundable deposit before an unconditional offer can be made.

• £500 (this contributes towards your tuition fees)

Find out more about tuition fee deposits:

• Tuition fee deposits

Tuition fee deposits can be paid using the University's online payment facility, ePay:

• Pay a tuition fee deposit

Tuition fees

Online Commonwealth Scholarships: Surgical

We are offering 10 awards covering tuition fees. These scholarships will be awarded to outstanding candidates who are citizens of and resident in low- and middle-income Commonwealth countries. Successful applicants will benefit from the University’s Global Academy network.

• Online Commonwealth Scholarships

The University of Edinburgh offers a small number of scholarships to outstanding candidates. These are very competitive. We publish data on the success rate for scholarship applications to help you understand the level of demand.

• Scholarship applications - success rates

UK government postgraduate loans

If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK’s governments.

The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on:

• your programme
• the duration of your studies
• your tuition fee status

Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.

• UK government and other external funding

Other funding opportunities

• Garden Scholarship in Surgical Sciences
• Online Learning Scholarships

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding