Medicine (MBBCh)

We are currently working with our students to update and improve the content of this course. The information shown below reflects the current curriculum and is likely to change. The review of the course is expected to be completed by August 2025 and this page will be updated by end of October 2025 to reflect the changes.

Your course, C21, is divided into three distinct phases.

• During Phase 1 (Years 1 and 2) you will learn the core science and clinical practice.
• In Phase 2 (Years 3 and 4) you learn to care for patients through extended clinical placements and projects that build on your practical and academic learning.
• In Phase 3 (final year) most of your learning will be as part of a clinical team, so that when you graduate you have the experience, skills and confidence to be a really good newly-qualified doctor.

The Undergraduate Course at Cardiff University is a non-modular course and therefore it is impossible to compartmentalise your learning. The idea of C21 is to build and gain new knowledge and ideas by expanding and developing what you already know. A spiral curriculum means you revisit aspects of learning, deepening your understanding.

The primary mode of delivery in Year 1 and 2 will be via Case Based Learning, where you are supported in small groups by a trained facilitator. You will learn basic and clinical science via the theme of the ‘Chronological Life Course’. Each unit of study will consist of a series of patient cases, typically lasting about two weeks. 

In your Years 3 and 4 you will apply and build upon earlier learning through increased clinical time in hospitals and GP surgeries throughout Wales. Learning will be centred around the patient experience as you follow patients along the care pathway from community settings into hospital care and back into the community on placements. Clinical placement learning will be complemented with time in Cardiff, where you will revisit core scientific principles and build upon these, but with an increased emphasis on the pathophysiology, diagnostic methods, management and treatment of common diseases.

By Year 5 you will be ready to take a more active role within clinical teams. The emphasis is on consolidating knowledge and skills to prepare you for work as a doctor in the NHS, ensuring your smooth transition from student to Foundation Doctor.

Core learning is supplemented by a series of Student Selected Components (SSCs) in all years of the programme, allowing you to choose projects from a list of available options, or to develop your own project. SSCs provide the stimulus and the opportunity for you, under appropriate guidance and direction, to acquire knowledge through a process of exploration and your own intellectual efforts.

SSCs complement core MBBCh teaching, allowing you to study areas of particular interest, introducing research skills and encouraging analytical and critical thought from your first year. You are encouraged to develop skills and knowledge in a variety of medical and scientific specialties, including those outside the realm of traditional Medicine. In your final year you will have an opportunity to go on an ‘elective’ and visit medical settings almost anywhere in the UK or internationally. These ‘options’ enable you to pursue an aspect of Medicine of particular interest to you.

Between Years 3-4 and 4-5, Cardiff University offers a number of intercalated BSc and MSc degree opportunities in health-related disciplines such as: Applied and Experimental Clinical Immunology, Anatomy, Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Pathology, Emergency, Pre-hospital and Intercalated Care (EPIC), Genomic Medicine, Medical Education, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Physiology, Population Medicine and Psychology & Medicine. There are also agreements with other Higher Education Institutes within Wales for medical students to gain a Bachelor degree in one year, in subjects such as Neuropsychology and Sports Science. This intercalated degree year provides students with interest in a research or academic career the chance to pursue an area of Medicine in depth and further develop their research skills.

The programme shown reflects the existing C21 curriculum and may be reviewed prior to the start of your academic year.

The modules shown are an example of the typical curriculum and will be reviewed prior to the 2025/2026 academic year. The final modules will be published by September 2025.

Year one

The programme initially focuses on preparing you for learning in higher education and building a platform for integrated clinical sciences. During the first semester of Year 1 you are introduced to the core knowledge, skills and behaviour expected of a doctor.

• Your introduction runs for the first 12 weeks, covering the basics of anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, cell and molecular biology, immunology, microbiology and pathology
• You will develop the fundamental communication, clinical skills and professionalism required of a doctor.

The remainder of Year 1 is based on a series of clinical scenarios linking the basic sciences to common clinical conditions, such as musculoskeletal injuries, heart disease, diabetes and gastrointestinal problems.

• You will learn to address medical problems from first principles, and develop scientific reasoning skills.
• Small group sessions will be supported by lectures and seminars, access to life science and clinical skills resources.
• You will spend a day most weeks seeing patients in local hospitals, general practices and other community based services around South East Wales.
• Early clinical experience opportunities in south east Wales will allow you to meet case-appropriate patients and NHS staff to complement your Case Based Learning.
• Initially you will concentrate on normal structure and function but, as cases progress, you will move on to more complex clinical presentations focusing on abnormal structure and function.

Teaching will be based at our state-of-the-art facilities in the Cochrane building, a flagship £18m development on the site of University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, and at the School of Biosciences. You will also rotate through regional clinical teaching and learning centres in Merthyr Tydfil, Abergavenny, Bridgend, and Newport.

Year two

During Year 2 your learning continues to be based on common clinical scenarios and you will study 11 cases. Each case lasting two weeks. Some of the core science learning highlights of Year 2 include:

1. Community Based Learning

The importance of seeing a patient in their own community is again emphasised in your second year and the Community Clinical Learning programme builds on your Case Based Learning.  Each placement will involve task-oriented learning, so that you collect a portfolio of clinical learning experience. This will help you link ‘real people’ to both the case you are studying and to more long term goals such as professional attitudes, understanding health service delivery and leadership. One of the highlights of the community clinical learning programme in Year 2 is our Simulated Road Traffic Accident. This allows you to learn about the challenges of healthcare delivery in a rural setting as compared to services available in urban areas. You will practise a variety of clinical and communication skills as you respond to a simulated emergency alongside doctors and paramedics.

2. The Student Selected Components (SSC) Programme

The SSC programme in Year 2 consists of four distinct learning opportunities:

Two Experience projects

The two experience projects expose you to a wide range of settings and topics and you will have opportunities to develop research skills at a more advanced level. Importantly there are projects that will facilitate study beyond the boundaries of traditional Medicine, and these include placements in social work, complementary Medicine and the Professions Allied to Medicine.

Journalistic article

The journalistic article will enable you to demonstrate the critical academic skills of literature searching and appraisal of complex scientific evidence-based material.  It will also challenge you to convey your journalistic message in an entertaining yet thought provoking manner.

A unique Year 2/Year 5 C21 Conference

The conference includes plenary sessions with invited keynote speakers covering a range of themes around thriving & surviving in medical school and medical ethics.

Year 5 students facilitate and share their experiences of Intercalating, European Exchange and clinical placements in Phase 2.

In small groups, Year 2 students will prepare poster presentations based on their first SSC experience project. Year 5 students will “judge” the posters and give feedback to academics.

This SSC will enable you to gain experience of attending and presenting at a scientific/medical conference and provide a significant opportunity for interaction with older peers as they embark on the next stage of their academic and clinical careers.

Year three

In Year 3 you learn the principles of integrated clinical care, to learn about clinical method and diagnostic reasoning and relate this to the underpinning scientific principles of Medicine.

The year is divided into a wide range of learning opportunities:

• Three clinical placements across Welsh hospitals and primary care, with bookend weeks at the Heath Park Campus in Cardiff;
• Applied Clinical Sciences taught all year in Cardiff;
• All year Student Selected Component – an opportunity to go beyond core learning and study a subject which you have a particular interest.
• You will gain valuable insight and skills on your Oncology Project, where you are paired with a patient who is living with cancer.  Following them through investigations and treatment, you will develop your understanding of the patient experience and your knowledge of the NHS.

During Year 3 you will spend most of your time on clinical placements, learning Medicine by following patients through the healthcare system. We expect you to make the patients the focus of your learning by witnessing the patient journey through the health care system. This will provide you with an insight into the patient experience of both illnesses and the health care system and learn about the fundamentals of excellent clinical care.

You should embrace all clinical opportunities offered, so that you can:

• Become proficient in performing clinical assessments;
• Formulate differential diagnosis;
• Describe and explain the principles of investigations;
• Describe and explain the management and treatment of common diseases.

Year four

C21's fourth year follows a similar pattern to Year 3, but your time will be concentrated on increasingly specialist cases. You will continue to practise the core skills learnt in your Year 3 but will apply these in different clinical settings.

The year is also divided into multiple, separate learning opportunities:

• Specialist clinical placements across Wales, with bookend weeks at Heath Park Campus in Cardiff;
• A Student Selected Component – an opportunity to go beyond core learning and study a subject in which you have a particular interest.

1. Women, Children and Family

The overall aim of this placement is to enable you to acquire skills relevant to women and children, to make a clinical assessment of a problem, and develop a plan of care in its widest sense. You will spend time with obstetricians and paediatricians throughout Wales and have the opportunity to witness first-hand the importance of multi-disciplinary working in both community and secondary care settings. The patient should remain the focus of your learning and there will be opportunities to interact with women, children and parents who are accessing the health care system.

2. Clinical Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Ophthalmology

This attachment utilises the expertise of one of the four Research Institutes in the School of Medicine. You will experience more specialist practice during the clinical neuroscience attachment but will see how an excellent grounding in generic skills facilitates clinical and diagnostic reasoning. These are essential skills for all good doctors to develop and perfect. You will also have excellent opportunities to see patients with psychiatric illnesses and come to appreciate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in our population. You will learn about primary psychiatric disorders and also see how mental health problems can influence how patients present with and manage other illnesses.

The ophthalmology teaching will be a dedicated week spent at Cardiff. During your one week placement in ophthalmology, you will be provided with opportunities to broaden your understanding of ophthalmological pathology, examination skills and management as well as highlighting the support requirements for visually impaired patients.

3. Chronic Disease 2 - Geriatrics, Musculoskeletal Disease and Dermatology

We have an increasingly ageing population and a significant burden of chronic diseases in our population. These are priority areas to address for the current NHS and you need to understand the challenges posed by these illnesses.  This placement builds on the principles of chronic disease management introduced in Year 3 but with particular emphasis on the elderly person and individuals with musculoskeletal and skin diseases.

European Exchange Scheme

We are pleased to say that the European Exchange Scheme for Year 4 students is continuing as before, with alternative funding arrangements, following the UK withdrawal from the Erasmus Scheme in 2020.

Year five

Our unique Harmonisation Programme brings together all elements of the course, blending existing knowledge and skills with those required by the Foundation Programme to prepare you for life after graduation.

• Your integration within clinical teams and responsibility for patient care increases through the final year of study, with the intention of preparing you for your role as a doctor working within the NHS, and ready for your postgraduate studies;
• You will focus on the assessment and management of acute and chronic clinical presentations, with increasing responsibility throughout the year;
• There will be two eight week clinical placements, one hospital-based and the other based in the community (general practice). You will be expected to contribute to patient care under supervision;
• Learning will be predominantly based in the workplace, with sessions in the simulation centre and small group sessions designed to refine clinical thinking and decision-making;
• These placements will be followed by an eight week student elective at a destination of your choice, almost anywhere in the world, to study aspects of Medicine that capture your imagination;
• Four core learning blocks of two weeks will address important aspects of a medical career. These Cardiff-based activities, themed “Preparing for Practice”, “Changing Practice”, “Science in Practice” and “Practise for Practice”, offer an understanding of what to expect when you start work. They include team-working, leadership, service improvement, academic research skills, and life as a Foundation doctor.
• The Harmonisation Programme will culminate in the seven week Senior Student Assistantship. This allows you to really work as part of the clinical team by directly managing patients under the supervision of hospital teams. It takes place in the hospital where you undertake your first foundation job, if that is in Wales. If it is elsewhere, your Senior Student Assistantship will be in Wales and you may be able to do a week in your foundation hospital, subject to approval.
• The final year ensures you are ready for your career in medicine, consolidating the skills and knowledge required to perform at the highest level within the NHS.

The University is committed to providing a wide range of course where possible, but please be aware that whilst every effort is made to offer choice this may be limited in certain circumstances. This is due to the fact that some options have limited numbers of places available, which are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, while others have minimum student numbers required before they will run, to ensure that an appropriate quality of education can be delivered; some options require students to have already taken particular subjects, and others are core or required on the programme you are taking. Options may also be limited due to timetable clashes, and although the University works to minimise disruption to choice, we advise you to seek advice from the relevant School on the module choices available.

The University is committed to providing a wide range of module options where possible, but please be aware that whilst every effort is made to offer choice this may be limited in certain circumstances. This is due to the fact that some modules have limited numbers of places available, which are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, while others have minimum student numbers required before they will run, to ensure that an appropriate quality of education can be delivered; some modules require students to have already taken particular subjects, and others are core or required on the programme you are taking. Modules may also be limited due to timetable clashes, and although the University works to minimise disruption to choice, we advise you to seek advice from the relevant School on the module choices available.