Program Overview

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Medicine MBChB Scottish Community Orientated Medicine (ScotCOM) 2025 entry

Overview

This five-year MBChB medicine degree is a unique and innovative offering from the University of St Andrews designed to cater for the needs of aspiring medical professionals and modern healthcare. Medicine MBChB (ScotCOM) is focussed on community-based clinical teaching, providing students with a comprehensive understanding of primary care services, whilst ensuring exposure and understanding of hospital-based care. Additionally, the programme aims to produce graduates for high-demand specialties, address regional healthcare needs, and promote principles of medicine and healthcare improvement.

UCAS code

A10C

Start date

September 2025

End date

June 2030

Duration

Five years full time

School

School of Medicine

Entry requirements

This programme is open to applicants who are classed as Home or RUK (rest of UK) for fee purposes. Those who are classed as overseas for fee purposes are not eligible to apply for this course. See the fees status policy for more information.

Applicants to the Medicine MBChB (ScotCOM) programme must meet a number of entry requirements, including both academic and non-academic conditions. Find out more about Standard, Minimum and Gateway entry requirements using academic entry explained web page. The entry requirements indicator will help you identify which category of entry requirements are relevant to your circumstances.

If you gained your qualifications outside of the UK, please ensure that they meet the entry requirements.

We will not accept an application for both A100 and A10C in the same application cycle. You must choose which programme you wish to study at the point of applying.

Course details

Medicine MBChB (ScotCOM) is a unique and innovative medical education programme designed to prepare students for a rewarding and successful career in the field of medicine. This programme offers a holistic approach to medical education, emphasising community-based learning, clinical exposure, critical thinking, and leadership skills.

The School of Medicine at St Andrews offers an integrated curriculum with clinical exposure from Year 1, supporting the application of scientific knowledge into clinical practice. The later years build on this foundation, immersing students in clinical settings where they will gain clinical experience across community (including GP practices and community hospitals) and secondary (hospital) care services.

The programme aims to cultivate professional attitudes, ethical understanding and decision-making skills required by the General Medical Council (GMC), which are detailed in their Outcomes for Graduates and Promoting Excellence documents. There is an emphasis on the development of students as professionals, including the ability to reflect on performance and identify self-development and self-care needs. These practices will nurture the qualities of resilience and commitment to continuous improvement crucial for sustainable medical practice.

With a strong emphasis on preparation for practice, the programme enables students to pursue any medical specialty through standard postgraduate training pathways.

In common with the development of all new UK medical programmes, the St Andrews Medicine MBChB (ScotCOM) is subject to successful progress through the General Medical Council’s quality assurance process.

The Medicine MBChB (ScotCOM) curriculum is divided into five years, each with a distinct focus and objectives.

Year 1

Year 1 of the programme focuses on fundamental aspects of medicine by integrating academic knowledge with clinical reasoning and decision-making skills. Year 1 modules include:

• Foundations of Medicine 1: provides a general overview of the structure and functions of the body systems from the microscopic to the macroscopic level. It includes strands of microbiology, public health and health psychology.
• Foundations of Medicine 2: continues the introduction of fundamental topics, including the principles of disease mechanisms and therapy, and the development of communication skills.

Year 2

Year 2 of the course focuses, in detail, on the normal function and dysfunction of specific physiological systems. The two modules in Year 2 take an integrated approach to the scientific basis of medicine. They build on the material delivered in Year 1 and introduce new concepts related to specific body systems.

• Medicine – Cardiovascular and Respiratory: covers the structure and functions of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
• Medicine – Reproductive, Renal and Gastrointestinal Systems: covers the renal, gastrointestinal and reproductive systems.

Year 3

Year 3 focuses on complex integrative physiological systems (central nervous system and endocrine organs) before students move onto a community-based clinical block.

• Medicine – Central Nervous System and Endocrine System: revisits foundation knowledge and progresses to more complex systems.
• Community Based Medicine 1: Centred at a community hospital in Fife, you will enter your first Academic Community Healthcare Hub. Time will be spent both centrally at the Hub and with healthcare services delivered in the community and across primary and hospital (secondary) care services.

Year 4

Year 4 is divided into three distinct blocks, each offering unique experiences. You will engage in a further Academic Community Healthcare Hub block centred around a second community hospital, delve into Urgent Care with a community focus, and spend extended time based at a GP practice during your 'modified-Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship’ (m-LIC).

• Academic Community Healthcare Hub block: This block will be based at a second community hospital located in a demographically different population within Fife, providing additional experience in community and hospital (secondary) care settings.
• Modified-Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (m-LIC): During the 'modified-Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship’ you will be based within a GP surgery (either in NHS Fife, NHS Borders or NHS Forth Valley) following patients through their illness journeys across primary and hospital care settings.
• Urgent and hospital care: The urgent care block, whilst covering emergency presentations and their clinical management, will maintain a community focus of such presentations, incorporating NHS24 and triage, out of hours service provision, and the ambulance service.

Year 5

Year 5 will focus on ensuring students are prepared to practise as foundation doctors, including completion of the compulsory National Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA). This year will provide revision opportunities, structured facilitated consolidation, and ‘apprenticeship-style’ shadowing.

Teaching

Medicine MBChB (ScotCOM) will be delivered through a variety of established and innovative teaching methods, including:

• ward simulations
• clinical placements
• lectures
• practical sessions
• dissection
• small group tutorials
• self and peer led elements
• reflective practice

Assessment

Students will complete both formative and summative assessments across the five years of the programme utilising:

• written examinations
• anatomy practical examinations
• objective structured clinical examinations
• portfolio assessment based on a mixture of engagement with learning, workplace-based performance, professionalism, reflections and project work related to the curriculum themes

Progress testing using Single Best Answer questions, emphasising critical thinking and decision-making, will be introduced from Year 3 of the programme. This format of assessment will ensure you are continuously building your knowledge in preparation for the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) in Year 5.

Assessment in Year 5 will be centred around Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA). In order to join the General Medical Council (GMC) register after graduation, students must pass the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA). This assessment is intended to set a common threshold for safe medical practice in the UK and is comprised of two components: the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and a practical Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA).

Support

We have established a robust support network to guide you through your rigorous MBChB educational journey. Each student is paired with a dedicated Personal Tutor who provides academic guidance and serves as a vital point of contact for accessing additional support resources. This invaluable partnership extends over the five-year programme, ensuring continuity and personalised assistance.

Our Medical Support Team plays a pivotal role in coordinating the Personal Tutor system, offering tailored pastoral advice, and overseeing complex cases. They work in close collaboration with the University's Student Services team, which provides comprehensive support on a wide range of academic matters, including study skills and financial concerns.

Fees

Scotland

£1820

England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man

Following the decision of the UK Government to raise undergraduate tuition fees and maintenance loans in line with inflation from April 2025, we are reviewing the consequences of that decision for fees payable by students from the Rest of the UK who have chosen to study in Scotland, and will update the information on this page as soon as possible.

Additional compulsory costs

You will also be expected to register with the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme when you arrive in St Andrews.

Careers

Graduates of Medicine MBChB (ScotCOM) will receive an MBChB degree, which is a primary medical qualification (PMQ). Whilst the focus of the Medicine MBChB (ScotCOM) is community medicine, the programme will enable graduates to pursue any branch of medicine through the normal UK Foundation Programme.

There is a wide range of career opportunities for doctors with more than 60 different specialties available. For more information, please see NHS Medical Careers.

The Careers Centre offers one-to-one advice to all students as well as a programme of events to assist students to build their employability skills.