The end of the Michaelmas term saw over thirty students from local schools and colleges attend a taster-day at Lancaster Medical School.
The event, which took place on December 12th, was to encourage interest in and aspirations towards undertaking a degree in the medical sciences, as well as to showcase the Lancaster University facilities, at which students have been able to study Medicine since 2006.
The schools involved included Ashton Sixth Form College, Barrow Sixth Form College, Central Lancaster High School, Heysham High School, Loreto College in Manchester, Our Ladies Catholic College, Settle College, and St Christopher’s C of E High School in Accrington.
The Medical School is one of the University’s newest departments, having been delivering the Medicine MBChB degree scheme, accredited by Liverpool University, on campus here at Lancaster since 2006. In November last year the School was granted full degree-awarding status by the General Medical Council.
The taster day was geared towards giving college and sixth-form students insight into what the study of undergraduate medicine at Lancaster Medical School would be like. Attendees were able to discuss the course with current undergraduates and teaching staff, and also had the opportunity to try problem-based learning, to learn a clinical skill and to experience anatomy teaching within the School.
The event was organised by Dr Karen Grant, the Director of Admissions to the MBChB programme, who said: “Lancaster Medical School was pleased to welcome so many enthusiastic young people from local schools and colleges. The feedback from the year 12 students was overwhelmingly positive, with the “hands on” clinical skills teaching session being especially popular.”
In July 2011, the School celebrated its first cohort of students graduating from the collaborative MBChB scheme; the first medical students to be classed as Lancaster University students will be those entering this September. In facilitating events such as last term’s taster-day, the University and the Medical School hope to inspire future medics and thereby widen participation in the medical field.
