Keele University’s School of Medicine is welcoming 15 additional students this academic year as part of a national scheme led by the Department for Education (DfE).

A record number of medical school applicants achieved their grades this summer, meaning that many medical schools over-recruited beyond the fixed number of students that they are allowed to take in line with Government caps

Thanks to careful management of our offer-making system, at Keele we recruited exactly to our student number cap for medical school applicants, but have now responded to an urgent call from Health Education England to accept additional students this year in an exceptional one-off situation due to high attainment and to resolve the over-recruitment of students at other universities.

Medicine at Keele continues to prosper and be highly regarded, and was ranked 4th in England in this year’s Complete University Guide thanks to its excellent graduate prospects, research intensity, and student satisfaction. Furthermore, the Medical School has been ranked No.1 in the UK in the 2021 Planetary Health Report Card – a student-led initiative which aims to introduce climate change and sustainability into medical school curricula.

Keele is also the current host and a member of the prestigious NIHR School for Primary Care Research, which is led by Keele’s Professor Christian Mallen as Director, strengthening the University’s world-leading primary care research.

A number of medical schools have jointly agreed to support the brokerage programme led by the DfE so that applicants who have met the conditions of their offers at oversubscribed medical schools will still be given the opportunity to begin their studies.

Professor Pauline Walsh, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, said: “We look forward to welcoming all our students in the coming weeks. Working with our clinical partners, I feel it is important to assist the national need to relocate applicants in order to balance the number of students across the system.”

Professor Christian Mallen, Director for the NIHR’s School of Primary Care Research and Head of Keele’s School of Medicine, said “Keele University is incredibly proud of our Medical School which continues to go from strength to strength. The start of a new academic term is an exciting time, and we look forward to meeting our new and returning students. We are, as always, grateful to our NHS and care partners for their continued support of our outstanding education and research programmes.”