University of Birmingham Medical School

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Birmingham Medical School

University of Birmingham Coat of Arms
Established 1825
Type Medical school
Dean Prof Michael Sheppard
Location Birmingham, England
Affiliations University of Birmingham
Website http://medweb.bham.ac.uk

The University of Birmingham Medical School is one of Britain's largest and oldest medical schools with a yearly undergraduate intake of 450 students.

[edit] History

Birmingham Medical School was founded in 1825 by William Sands Cox, who began by teaching medical students in his father's house in Birmingham. A new building was used from 1829 (on the site of what is now Snow Hill Station). Students at this time took the licentiate/membership examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries.

In 1841 Queen's Hospital was first opened, by William Sands Cox as a teaching hospital for the medical school. In 1843 the medical school became Queen's College, and students became eligible to be considered for medical degrees awarded by the University of London

A rival medical school, Syndenham College opened in Birmingham in 1851. This merged with Queen's College in 1868 to form a new combined institution, and later merged with another institution, Mason Science College. In 1897 the Mason University College Act was passed which made Mason Science College (incorporating Queen's College) into a University College, and this, in turn, became Birmingham University in 1900, and MB ChB degrees were able to be awarded by the new university.

[edit] About the Medical School Today

The undergraduate degree courses running there are the five-year and four-year graduate entry course (GEC) medical degrees (MBChB) and three-year bachelor degrees in medical sciences (BMedSc). The best of the first-class BMedSc graduates each year can begin the four-year MBChB course. An increasingly popular option for medical students is intercalated degrees, in which they complete they take a year out from the MBChB degree to complete a BMedSc degree in a year. The College of Health Sciences at the University of Zimbabwe was modelled after the Birmingham Medical School. The two hence share and enjoy a special relationship.

University of Birmingham students of dentistry, nursing and physiotherapy use the Barnes Library and computer cluster within the medical school building despite receiving no teaching there.

[edit] External links