Our new Medicine curriculum

We're developing our MBChB Medicine programme so that the experience of studying at Sheffield, and the doctors our students become, keep pace with a changing healthcare world. On this page you can find out what's changing, why, and what it means for you.

Our plans are still going through an approval process within the University, so some of the information below may change. We'll share updates on our website, at open days, and directly with applicants and offer-holders.

Why now?

Medicine, teaching and the needs of new doctors have all moved on since we designed our current curriculum. To reflect this, we’re looking at:

• Student experience: Putting the day-to-day experience of studying Medicine at the centre of how the course is designed.
• Technology and teaching: Reflecting how teaching methods and technology have changed since the current curriculum was created.
• Timing of final exams: Reviewing when final exams fall, so our students have the best possible opportunity to succeed in them.
• What the new F1 doctor needs: Ensuring the course equips graduates with the practical knowledge, skills and confidence to transition successfully into Foundation Year 1. 
• Increasing the impact of primary care: Strengthening the role of primary care within the curriculum and giving students greater insight into its importance in modern healthcare. 

Examples of changes

Although our plans aren’t finalised, to give you a sense of our direction of travel, some of the ideas we’re developing include: 

• Your academic year, better balanced: Semesters and holidays that align more closely with the rest of the University, and increased holiday time to provide greater opportunities to rest and recharge, supporting your resilience on a demanding course. The course content will also be organised into standard academic years, rather than phases that currently span multiple academic years.
• A wider choice of career exploration placements: Clinical placement arrangements that give you a greater say in your placement experience, based on the areas you want to focus on.
• More learning through simulation: Practising clinical scenarios in a safe, supported setting before you do them for real.
• An operative care placement: More focused, hands-on exposure to surgical care.
• Longitudinal GP placements: Regular GP placements throughout the clinical years of the programme, giving students more opportunities to experience primary care and develop their skills over time.

We’re keeping lots of the things that make the Sheffield Medicine degree special: GP experience in your first year, our Patients as Educators scheme, our state-of-the-art anatomy teaching, and our Social Accountability programme.

How this affects you

We are aiming to start teaching the first and the third years of our new curriculum in September 2028.

This means that if you start our standard five-year Medicine programme in either 2026 or 2027, the first two years of your degree will follow the current curriculum, but you will follow the new curriculum from your third year onwards. You will also follow the final three years of the new curriculum if you start our four-year Graduate Entry Medicine programme in 2027. This avoids disruption to your learning, while also giving you the opportunity to benefit from the new curriculum as soon as possible.

If you start either of our Medicine programmes in 2028, you will follow the new curriculum throughout your whole degree, from the start of your first year.

We will keep this page updated and contact applicants and offer-holders if this timeline or any of the other information above changes.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about the upcoming changes, you can contact us to learn more.