Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
Introduction
The option of taking an extra year to complete an intercalated degree, either classed as a BSc or BMedSc, has long been a tradition for students in UK medical schools. Recently, more students have chosen this option, reflecting the increase in medical student numbers and the increasingly competitive market for foundation-year posts. Currently, just over a third of all British medical students obtain an intercalated degree. Likewise, the range of courses on offer has increased. The proportion of students taking an intercalated degree still varies widely from school to school, and it should be noted that in some (e.g. Oxford, Cambridge and Nottingham) a BSc degree is either obligatory or given to all students. In most schools, however, intercalating is an option only for students who have performed well in other parts of the course.
Traditionally, intercalating was taken in between the preclinical and clinical years, with basic science subjects of anatomy, biochemistry and pathology being the norm. The history of medicine was one of the few alternatives on offer. With the introduction of integrated teaching and the increase in student numbers, a wider range of subjects, including those in clinical areas, have been offered, from aerospace physiology to human genetics. Now in most medical schools students are able to intercalate at any point in their undergraduate course after their second year. Medical schools also increasingly compete to attract external students.
The General Medical Council (2003) identified two main purposes for the intercalated year: the development of research skills and an indepth study in areas of particular interest over an extended period. This is reflected in the content of courses, where a strong research theme is a core feature. The second edition of Tomorrow's Doctors, published by the General Medical Council in 2003, and updated in 2009, also proposed that in the core medical degree (MB) course ‘factual information must be kept to the essential minimum that students need at this [undergraduate] stage of their medical education’. Thus, students are not able to study subjects in any great depth; medical students’ education must be spread thinly to cover all subjects needed to practise safely as doctors.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.