Queen Mary University email to students: “The Government of Malta will be investing heavily in new facilities on Gozo in the coming year, including new student accommodation”

Last week, students at Queen Mary University were sent an email which I reproduce below.

Dear students,

I am delighted to confirm that this week will see the public announcement and launch of our new Medical School in Malta. Some of you will, no doubt, have heard of this initiative, but for those who have not Queen Mary are starting a new MBBS Malta Programme which will be taught by QMUL staff and delivered through a new medical campus in Gozo, in the Republic of Malta.

The programme will closely match Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry’s present programme. Entry requirements and selection criteria will be similar, each student sharing a core curriculum, including early in-depth clinical experience, problem-based learning (PBL), practical sessions in laboratories, and opportunities to study intercalated undergraduate degrees through QMUL and in London.

The Government of Malta will be investing heavily in new facilities on Gozo in the coming year, including new student accommodation. The new campus will be ready for the first intake of 30 students in September 2016.

In the first two years of the programme students will be taught mainly at the Gozo campus using the Gozo General Hospital’s teaching and training facilities. From an early stage students will gain experience in the local community through attachments with general practices where they can learn about the clinical context of their medical knowledge.

In the third, fourth and fifth year students will spend time on the wards in the Gozo General Hospital and also the Mater Dei Hospital (Malta) where they will be introduced to clinical medicine. Students’ knowledge and clinical skills will be enhanced by working alongside clinical teams both in the hospital and also within community placements. Students will regularly return to the main medical campus on Gozo for teaching weeks and assessments.

We appreciate that student life is more than academic engagement alone. Membership and participation in sports, societies and the wider public engagement activities are central to broader social interaction and development. We will ensure that your counterparts in Malta have similar opportunities to London based students.

Equally while we are committed to the success of this new initiative we are determined to maintain and, where possible, enhance the student experience that Barts and the London students presently enjoy.

This development will build on our excellence in medical education and bio-medical research to which the new Medical School in Malta will offer exciting and new opportunities.

May I also express my gratitude to Professor Anthony Warrens and Christine Sofianos who, together with their wider team, have been instrumental in bringing this partnership to fruition.

With my very best wishes

Professor Richard Trembath

Vice-Principal for Health