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Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery 2023-24

Academic Regulations: Faculty of Medicine

SchoolMedicine
Final Award

BM5 Medicine, BM6 Medicine and BM(EU) Medicine: 

  • Final Award: Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery 
  • Intermediate Award: Bachelor of Medical Sciences (Honours) 

BM5 with Integrated Masters in Medical Science: 

  • Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Masters in Medical Science (Honours) 

BM4 Medicine and International Transfer Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor Surgery: 

  • Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery 

With exit awards of: 

  • Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) 
  • Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) 
  • Bachelor of Medical Sciences (Ordinary) 
  • Bachelor of Medical Sciences (Hons) 
  • Masters of Medical Science (Hons)
Programme(s)
  • BM4 Medicine (four-year graduate entry programme) 
  • BM5 Medicine (five-year programme) 
  • BM6 Medicine (six-year programme designed to widen participation in medicine) 
  • BM(EU) Medicine (five-year programme) 
  • BM5 with Integrated Masters in Medical Science (five-year programme with an additional MMedSc year between years 3 and 4) 
  • International Transfer Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (three-year programme)
Last modifiedApril 2023

The Academic Regulations apply to and regulate the programme(s) listed above.

On occasion, programmes can be exempted from one or more of the clauses in the Regulations; one or more of the clauses can be varied; and programmes can impose additional requirements.

  • Exemptions are characterised by the omission of the relevant clause.
  • Variations are characterised by the replacement of the clause with alternative wording.
  • Additions are characterised by requirements in addition to those detailed in the Academic regulations.

The programmes listed have approval from the Academic Quality and Standards Committee for the exemptions and/or variations and/or additions to the regulations noted below.

All BM Programmes (unless otherwise stated)

Definitions

The definitions used by the Faculty are as per the University regulations with the following exception:

YearThe Faculty refers to Years in the following regulations. A Year is equivalent to the term Part as referred to in the University regulations.

Exemptions

The clause(s) listed below describe where an exemption to the Regulations exists.

The BM programmes are exempt from clause 5.3 and 5.4 under section 5: Repeat of the Progression, Determination and Classification of Results for Undergraduate and Integrated Masters Programmes as follows:

  • Students who repeat BM year 0 must repeat externally.
  • Students who repeat all other years of the programmes must repeat internally.

These programmes are exempt from Clause 9.1 of section 9: Classified Awards of the Progression, Determination and Classification of Results for Undergraduate and Integrated Masters Programmes. The MMedSc award follows the University regulations on classification of integrated masters.

The BM programmes lead to an unclassified degree of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and for the BM5, BM6 and BM(EU) programmes an unclassified degree of Bachelor of Medical Sciences.

Variations

The clause(s) listed below describe where a variation to the Regulations exists.

Existing University Regulation

Progression, Determination and Classification of Results for Undergraduate and Integrated Masters Programmes

Approved Variation
2.1The University standard Module Pass Mark for undergraduate students taking Modules at all levels is 40. Where professional standards, including but not limited to PSRB requirements, require a Module Pass Mark that differs from the University standard this will be stated in the relevant programme regulations.

In all years except the MMedSc year: Pass Marks for assessments are standard set as required by the GMC and therefore the pass mark for each assessment varies. The method of standard setting is published in the Student Handbook.

 

 

3.1In order to progress to the next Part of a programme or to an award, as appropriate, all Modules and each Part must be Passed at the specified Pass Mark except as allowed in paragraph 3.3 below. Each Part must be successfully completed before the next Part is commenced.

Under specific circumstances students may conditionally progress to the next year of the BM programmes before all modules have been successfully completed. Any outstanding module must be successfully completed within the first 6 weeks of the academic year.

Details of the specific circumstances under which this can occur is provided in the Student Handbook.

4.1For students who fail to progress under paragraphs 3.1 to 3.3 on a programme where all Modules in a Part have been designated Core in order to meet the stipulations of Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies, Referral is allowed in Failed modules in that Part totalling at most 30 ECTS (60 CATS) if permitted by the programme regulations.In all years except the MMedSc year: A student who fails to progress under paragraphs 3.1 to 3.3 may take referral assessments in all failed modules.
4.3The actual marks achieved at Referral are inserted into the previous marks profile and paragraphs 3.1 to 3.4 are applied again to determine Progression. However, the Referral marks will be Capped at the Capped Mark for all calculations related to degree classification.The BM programmes lead to an unclassified degree; there are no calculations related to degree classification therefore the referral marks will not be Capped at the Capped Mark. For students who transfer to the BM with integrated MMedSc the referral marks will be capped at the standard set pass mark for all calculations related to the MMedSc degree classification.  
5.1A student who has not progressed to the next Part of the programme at the first attempt, and who has either also not progressed after Referral (where permitted) or who does not qualify to take Referral assessments under paragraph 4 above, may Repeat the appropriate Part of the programme.

Students are permitted to repeat a maximum of 2 years during their programme of study, including where a repeat year is due to approved special considerations.

Repeat years in excess of two will not normally be permitted even with approved special considerations, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

5.3

 

Internal Repeat: A student choosing an Internal Repeat will be required to Repeat all Modules, including those Passed at the first attempt. A student choosing an Internal Repeat is not permitted to change to an External Repeat part way through the year. A student is permitted to select new Option Modules in place of the Option Modules taken at the first attempt. However a student will have no right to Refer in any Modules taken during the Repeat, including option Modules taken for the first time. The marks achieved at Internal Repeat will be inserted into the marks profile and paragraphs 3.1 to 3.4 applied again to determine Progression. Marks for Modules in which the Module Pass Mark was not obtained at the first attempt, and for any new Option Modules substituted for such modules, will be Capped at the Capped Mark for all calculations related to determination of a final degree classification (see Section 8 below). For all other Modules the mark obtained at Repeat will be carried forward.The BM programmes lead to an unclassified degree; there are no calculations related to determination of a final degree classification, therefore the Marks for Modules in which the Module Pass Mark was not obtained at the first attempt for an internal repeat, and the Marks obtained during an External Repeat of BM6 year 0, will not be Capped at the Capped Mark.
For students who transfer to the BM with integrated MMedSc the marks for modules not obtained at the first attempt will be capped at the standard set pass mark for all calculations related to the MMedSc degree classification. For all other Modules the mark obtained at Repeat will be carried forward.
5.4External Repeat: A student choosing an External Repeat will be required to Repeat those Modules in which the Module Pass Mark was not obtained at the first attempt or at Referral. The most recent marks for Modules not Repeated will be retained for determining Progression. The marks achieved at External Repeat will be inserted into the most recent marks profile and paragraphs 3.1 to 3.4 applied again to determine Progression. The marks obtained during External Repeat and those arising from Referral will be Capped at the Capped Mark for all calculations related to determination of a final degree classification.

The BM programmes lead to an unclassified degree; there are no calculations related to determination of a final degree classification, therefore the Marks for Modules in which the Module Pass Mark was not obtained at the first attempt for an internal repeat, and the Marks obtained during an External Repeat of BM6 year 0, will not be Capped at the Capped Mark.

Students undertaking an external repeat of any module in BM6 Year 0 will be required to repeat only the component failed at referral, they will not be required to repeat any component passed at the first or referral attempt.

9.2Weighting of Parts: Part I work shall be excluded from the final degree classification. A weighting of 0:1:2 shall be used to obtain the Final Average Mark for the three Parts of an Honours degree programme, and a weighting of 0:1:2:2 for the four Parts of an integrated Masters programme. This is in addition to weighting by credit points (for example, where Parts III and IV do not contain the same number of credit points).

For students who transfer to the BM with integrated MMedSc: The MMedSc programme follows University regulations on the classification of integrated undergraduate masters with a weighting of 0:0:1:2. 

 

 

Additional requirements

The clause(s) listed below are in addition to the Regulations.

  • Continuation on your programme is subject to consideration of any criminal convictions. Students are required to inform the Faculty of all criminal convictions. All students will be subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
  • Continuation on your programme is subject to specific health requirements (consistent with the provisions of the Equality Act [2010]). Students are required to inform the Faculty of any health problems, throughout their period of enrolment, relevant to their future employment as a professional.
  • Continuation on your programme is subject to you being free from behavioural and conduct problems relevant to future employment as a medical practitioner.
  • A student who has exited the programme may be permitted to rejoin within two years of exiting.  Any exit award would be converted to the appropriate exit award on completion of additional credit or the final award if completing the BM programme.
  • For the MMedSc year all modules once selected are core.

Additional Requirements relating to the Award of Qualification

  • The BMBS degree is unclassified. However, an award of Distinction is conferred on students showing excellence. The criteria defining excellence are detailed in the Faculty's Assessment Policies which are published on Blackboard.
  • In order to qualify for the degree of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery you must have been free from health, behavioural and conduct problems relevant to future employment as a medical practitioner.

These regulations should be read in conjunction with the programme specification.

Disclaimer

As a research-led University, we undertake a continuous review of our programmes to ensure quality enhancement and to manage our resources. As a result, these regulations may be revised during a student’s period of registration, however, any revision will be balanced against the requirement that the student should receive the educational service expected. Please read our Disclaimer to see why, when and how changes may be made to a student’s programme.