Widening access to Medicine at Manchester

At Manchester, we are committed to widening access to the study of Medicine by ensuring students from less privileged backgrounds have the chance to enter medical school.

Our dedicated medical school widening participation team works alongside our Admissions team to enable pupils to learn more about applying to and studying on medical courses.

Read more about our activities below, or visit the widening participation programmes page for specific information on how pupils in these programmes can progress to university medical courses.

Working with school pupils

We have been delivering outreach events from primary school to Year 12 since 2013.

For our 10-year anniversary, we will be delivering a masterclass for Manchester Access Programme (MAP) students, as well as leading a Faculty Hello Healthcare Day for Year 9 pupils from Greater Manchester.

We are also working with Liverpool, Lancaster and Edge Hill medical schools, in delivering a Northwest Summer School for the Medical Schools Council (MSC).

We continue to offer a range of talks at secondary schools, delivered by WP Champions and our Academic Lead for Admissions. These are trained doctors, current students and academic staff, who cover admissions and their personal journey during inspiring talks.

For more information on our widening participation work, please email Albert Jennings (albert.jennings@manchester.ac.uk).

If you would like to book an admissions-focused talk, please email Drew Tarmey (drew.tarmey@manchester.ac.uk).

Year 12 MAP Masterclass

The Manchester Access Programme (MAP) is the University's award-winning widening participation scheme for local Year 12 students in Greater Manchester.

A masterclass is available to Year 12 students on the MAP. The masterclass has been delivered online during the pandemic, but we are planning to deliver an in-person event in 2023. This will include workshops on communication skills, values and behaviours, and the multiple mini-interviews (MMIs) used in the Medicine application and admissions process.

The masterclass was created with significant input from Widening Participation (WP) Fellows, who are current medical students undertaking intercalating master's degrees during their Medicine course. This prestigious role is very popular, and attracts a large number of candidates, often from WP backgrounds.

For further information on MAP, please visit the MAP website. You can also email map@manchester.ac.uk.

Hello Healthcare Day

We are excited to announce a special conference for Year 9 pupils interested in healthcare careers.

The conference will include workshops delivered by different healthcare professionals, as well as opportunities to meet and network with admissions and programme staff.

Please contact us if you would like further details.

Email: albert.jennings@manchester.ac.uk

#IMADEIT videos

Our #IMADEIT YouTube channel has lots of videos created with the support of medical students and doctors. These videos offer advice on applying to medical school, as well as showing what life in medical school is like.

Watch our videos: #IMADEIT (YouTube)

Supporting medical students from WP backgrounds

In Manchester, we realise that our WP work does not end with you getting into medical school.

With this in mind, we have developed a mentoring programme to improve the learning environment for those from WP backgrounds.

The Thrive Mentoring Scheme was started in 2019 and is led by Dr Emma Sahgal, supported by former WP Fellows (Nina, Sirat and Ali).

This has been an opportunity for later year medical students from WP backgrounds to mentor Year 1 students from a similar background.

Please contact the WP team for more information when you join the MBChB programme at Manchester.

Working with other medical schools

The Manchester WP team are the founders of the National Medical Schools Widening Participation Forum, a collaborative organisation of over 20 medical schools, UCAT and voluntary organisations that began in 2015.

The National Forum aims to improve access to and experience in medical school, for students from WP backgrounds.

You can also read about our work in the following article on the website of publication The Clinical Teacher: Developing a UK widening participation forum.

The current chair is Dr Clare Ray at University of Birmingham Medical School, and there are teams committed to student access, student success and progression, and research. We also have a strong medical student team.

We would encourage you to consider Manchester. Both the city and the University are proud of their diversity, and the opportunities they offer for everyone.

Dr Enam Haque

GP, Clinical Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead for Widening Participation, University of Manchester Medical School

Twitter: @enamhaque31