7 Sensible Reasons to Study Medicine in the UK

Studying medicine in the UK is a chance to gain some professional experience while you study. UCLan’s Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), for instance, incorporates patient contact from Year 1 through to graduation.

From Year 3 onwards at UCLan, you’ll be assigned your own patients during clinical placements. The course, led by expert staff and National Health Service (NHS) education providers, is designed specifically for international students who want to study medicine in the UK.

Obviously studying abroad also means that you get to discover an entirely new country and culture. While studying medicine in the UK, you’ll be able to explore the country on your weekends and holidays. 

Whether you’re keen on historic sites and national parks, or bright lights and city life, the UK has more than enough to fill your semester breaks to the brim. And if you’ve got the travel bug, you could also take advantage of the country’s many well-connected international airports, as well as train, coach and ferry services to nearby European destinations.

English is the international language of medical communities. Knowledge of both medical English and colloquial English can be a real differentiator between job applicants, even for those who wish to practice outside of Anglophone countries. One of the reasons frequently listed by doctors for wishing to learn colloquial and medical English is for career advancement.

If you dream of, say, practicing abroad for an NGO or attending international seminars on global health issues, it’s absolutely vital that you are able to understand medical English jargon while also talking confidently to patients. And there’s no better way to learn medical English than studying medicine in the UK.

According to the public portal Scimago Journal & Country Rank, the UK comes second (behind only the US) in the world for medical research. The list considers both the quantity of papers being published and the total number of citations per country. 

The UK also claims the second-highest number of Nobel Prizes for medicine since 1901, just ahead of Germany. Studying medicine in the UK is a chance to benefit from world-leading expertise in research-intensive establishments.

Studying abroad doesn’t come without its fair share of challenges, and these may or may not include culture shock, figuring out how to navigate UK supermarkets and bus timetables, and the odd bout of homesickness.

But if you study medicine in the UK, you’ll have the opportunity to make friends from all corners of the world, while learning to live independently in a foreign country, and challenging yourself both academically and personally. Whatever the future brings, you’ll be ready!