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University of Southampton School of Medicine is a medical school in England. It is part of the University of Southampton and it offers three different undergraduate medical programmes, all leading to the award of a medical degree, styled BMed (Bachelor of Medicine). Although no degree in surgery is formally conferred on Southampton graduates, graduates may proceed to a career in surgery in exactly the same way as graduates of other UK medical schools who have received the ChB or BS degree.
The three undergraduate medical programmes on offer are:
- standard five year course in medicine for school leavers with A-levels or equivalent.
- four year course for graduates of other disciplines.
- six year course for applicants from non-standard backgrounds, who would not usually have had the opportunity to study medicine. These students study for a preparatory year making the total duration of the course six years.
The school was formed following the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Medical Education (1965-68) (who issued their report, popularly known as the Todd Report in 1968). The Commission estimated that by 1994 we would need to train more than 4500 doctors a year in the United Kingdom, and that this would need to be achieved by both increasing the numbers of medical students at existing medical schools, and by establishing a number of new medical schools. The report recommended that new medical schools should be immediately established at the Universities of Nottingham, Leicester and Southampton. University of Southampton School of Medicine was opened in 1971. Southampton pioneered the integration of patient contact into the early years of the medical curriculum, something which was very unusual when the medical school opened. As of 2006 applicants will be required to sit the UKCAT admission test. Information about the test and preparation can be found at UKCAT
