Aston University plans for a new medical school in the heart of Birmingham…reports Asian Lite
The curriculum and school have been officially endorsed and guaranteed by Leicester Medical School, which will allow Aston to approach the General Medical Council for its final approval.
The Aston Medical School would open its doors autumn 2017, when it would cater for 60 undergraduate medical students in its first year.
This will grow to around 100 new medical students each year. It includes a research institute focused on cardiovascular diseases, maternity and child health.
Aston Medical Research Institute is addressing the challenge of high perinatal mortality and also pre-eclampsia, a dangerous hypertensive complication of pregnancy.
The university will adopt Leicester Medical School’s new five-year curriculum plan.
The new school, which will be based on Aston’s City Centre campus in Birmingham, is backed by Trusts and Primary Care practices throughout the region and will have a strong emphasis on individual scholarships and financial assistance programmes, to encourage social mobility in medicine for students in the West Midlands.
A total of 20 medical scholarships will be specifically earmarked for students within Birmingham and the Black Country from ‘hard to reach communities’.
The remainder will be open to international-fee paying students, which will in-turn help to fund the scholarship programme and bring new employment opportunities and funds into the city.
The official partnership between Aston and Leicester was signed by Professor Dame Julia King, vice chancellor of Aston University, and Professor Paul Boyle, president and vice chancellor of the University of Leicester.
Trainee doctors at Aston Medical School will study for five years, and qualify with an MBChB degree (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery).
The new Medical School will build upon Aston University’s pioneering health research, including optometry, age-related illnesses such as dementia and chronic diseases including diabetes.
The university is also home to the Aston Brain Centre, which specialises in epilepsy, dyslexia, autism, ADHD and sleeping disorders.