King's College London

We will provide you with high level teaching from experts, which you will put into practice on your placements.

Stage and year Advanced Medical	Lectures, seminars and similar	Placement	Self-study time
GEM 1, year 1	60%	25%	15%
GEM 2, year 2	45%	40%	15%
GEM 3, years 3 and 4	15% including small group and case- based teaching in clinical blocks	75%	10%

 

Assessment

Assessment is split between that which is formative (where the primary role is to give feedback to student, this does not contribute towards the overall module/degree score) and summative (where the primary role is to demonstrate competence against course standards and learning outcomes). Formative assessment occurs through the years.

Summative assessment includes:

• portfolio-based summative assessment continues throughout the course in preparation for professional life
• progress (written) tests in GEM 2 and GEM 3
• OSCEs (formative mid-stage, summative end- of-stage) in GEM 2 and 3
• project assessment.

There is also one external assessment in GEM 4 that is necessary to support your Foundation Year 1 training. It is not currently essential to pass this in order to graduate from the MBBS course.

All students must pass the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) as part of their degree before they can join the medical register. The MLA will test the core knowledge, skills and behaviour of doctors who want to practise in the UK. Applicants should be aware that to obtain registration with a licence to practise, medical students will need to pass both parts of the MLA, and all their modules and be able to demonstrate their fitness to practise.

Location

We will use a delivery method that will ensure students have a rich, exciting experience from the start, in Portsmouth and the local area. Face to face teaching will be complemented and supported with innovative technology so that students also experience elements of digital learning and assessment, including some drawing upon the expertise of London-based colleagues. You will learn in a wide variety of hospital and community care settings. Students undertake placements at general practices and district general hospitals located in Portsmouth and the surrounding area, usually including the Isle of Wight.

Unless there are exceptional circumstances, all students will experience hospital and GP-based education across multiple sites.

 

Outcome of course

On successful completion of the course, you will receive your KCL MBBS degree, which is a primary medical qualification (PMQ). Holding a PMQ entitles you to apply for provisional registration with the General Medical Council (GMC), subject only to its acceptance that there are no Fitness to Practice concerns. Provisional registration is time limited to a maximum of three years and 30 days (1125 days in total). After this time period your provisional registration will normally expire.

Provisionally registered doctors can only practice in approved Foundation Year 1 posts. To obtain a Foundation Year 1 post you will need to apply during the final year of your undergraduate course through the UK Foundation Programme Office selection scheme, which allocates posts to graduates on a competitive basis. Generally, all suitably qualified UK graduates are allocated a place on Foundation Year 1.

On successful completion of Foundation Year 1, you will be eligible to apply for full registration with the GMC. You need full registration with a licence to practise for unsupervised medical practice in the NHS or private practice in the UK.

Although this information is currently correct, you should be aware that regulations in this area may change from time to time.

 

Course Structure

GEM students do not undertake Stage 1 of the five/six Year MBBS course. Instead, you will have a three-week mandatory introductory module ‘Introduction to Graduate Entry Medicine ’ (30 credits) immediately before you start the GEM programme (August 2026), which includes elements of the Introduction to Values Based Clinical Practice module from MBBS Stage 1 and Anatomy.

The following terminology applies to the GEM programme:
GEM 1 – year 1
GEM 2 – year 2
GEM 3 – year 3
GEM 4 – year 4