The certification is the culmination of years of hard work carried out by the Medical School team and the wider Faculty of Health, Social Care and Medicine, with support from across the University. Edge Hill is now officially inducted to the register of institutions with powers to award UK primary medical qualifications.
The first cohort of MBChB Medicine students will graduate this summer and their achievements deserve additional recognition. 80 per cent of them are from backgrounds often under-represented in medical education, for example, they are from low income families, they are the first in their family to go to university or they live in neighbourhoods with high levels of deprivation.
Professor Minal Singh, Director of the Medical School said: “I am so incredibly proud that our Medical School now has full GMC approval. We have undergone the strictest quality assurance assessments and have been found to be deserving of the full support of the General Medical Council.
“I am particularly delighted because I know our first cohort of graduates will go on to be excellent doctors and will serve their communities splendidly. They are shining examples of our University’s vision of ‘opportunity for all’ given that so many of them may not have considered studying medicine without the Edge Hill offer, despite their ability, compassion and professionalism.”
The University – one of the largest providers of healthcare education in the North West – was awarded government funding in 2018 to set up a new Medical School to help address the shortage of doctors and significant health challenges in the region.
50 per cent of Edge Hill’s medical students due to graduate this summer have already secured jobs in the North West, ensuring more patients will be treated by doctors from similar backgrounds who better understand their challenges and needs.
Student Davina Vadher, from Preston, is excited about working in the community she grew up in after she graduates.
The 22-year-old said: “I come from a non-academic working class family and becoming a doctor seemed impossible simply due to a lack of networks and ‘desired experiences’.
“However, Edge Hill Medical School gave me the opportunity to pursue a career in medicine with their initiative to recruit local students and I feel truly privileged to soon be working as a doctor in the local community in which I have grown up.”
Edge Hill is rapidly rising through the ranks of universities recognised for the opportunities and life chances offered to students. The University is now top 15 in the country in the Higher Education Policy Institute’s Social Mobility Index, thanks in large part to the trailblazing MBChB Medicine with Foundation Year. The degree has provided a pathway to medicine for students who have the right skills and abilities but who have not had the same life chances as traditional applicants.
Through initiatives like this, in addition to a broad range of University-wide wellbeing support and advocacy programmes like Student Advisory Panels, the Medical School has ensured all prospective students are given the same opportunity to study medicine.
Professor Clare Austin, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Health, Social Care and Medicine, said: “A UK medical degree is recognised throughout the world because of its high standards of education and training. So I’m thrilled that the GMC, after carrying out their rigorous approval process, have deemed our Medical School to be meeting these excellent standards.
“There has, quite rightly, been an extremely high level of scrutiny and challenge during this process and I am so grateful for the hard work and dedication of our staff in making this happen. A huge well done to them all, and a big thank you also to our clinical partners across the region, without whose support this would not have been possible.
“I’d also really like to recognise and thank our wonderful students for their hard work and professionalism – they have been a constant inspiration to us all as we’ve worked together to achieve this historic milestone.”
Discover the full range of courses available in Edge Hill University’s Faculty of Health, Social Care and Medicine.
April 23, 2025
