Accreditation

The MBBS programme is offered under the degree-awarding powers of St George’s, University of London, and shares the same recognition in the United Kingdom and almost all of the rest of the world. St George’s was the first medical school in the United Kingdom to offer a graduate entry programme in medicine and is the only independently governed medical school in that country.

Our medical programme is subject to the UK General Medical Council’s quality assurance processes for new overseas programmes.

The St George’s, University of London MBBS4 at the University of Nicosia provides a firm foundation on which to build a career in the global healthcare sector.

Information for Students

At the end of the undergraduate programme, you will receive your MBBS degree, which is a primary medical qualification (PMQ). Holding a PMQ entitles you to provisional registration with the General Medical Council, subject only to its acceptance that there are no Fitness-to-Practise concerns that need consideration. 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 practise in approved Foundation Year 1 posts: the law does not allow provisionally registered doctors to undertake any other type of work. To obtain a Foundation Year 1 post, you will need to apply during the final year of your undergraduate programme through the UK Foundation Programme Office selection scheme, which allocates these posts to graduates on a competitive basis.

Successful completion of the Foundation Year 1 programme is normally achieved within 12 months and is marked by the award of a Certificate of Experience. You will then be eligible to apply for full registration with the General Medical Council (GMC). You need full registration with a licence to practise to apply for unsupervised medical practice in the NHS or private practice in the UK.

There is some discussion about whether to remove provisional registration for newly qualified doctors. If this happens, then graduates with a UK PMQ will receive full registration as soon as they have successfully completed an MBBS degree. It should be noted that it is very likely that graduates with a UK PMQ will still need to apply for a training programme similar to the current Foundation Programme and that places on this programme may not be guaranteed for every graduate.

The GMC will be introducing a formal assessment that medical students will need to pass in order to be granted registration with a license to practise in future. The requirement to have passed the MLA will apply to MBBS students entering their final year in Autumn 2024 for graduation in 2024-25 and after. Further information can be found on the GMC website.

Students from outside the UK should note that you will potentially not be able to complete the first year of foundation training in the UK leading to full registration, as under prevailing UK immigration rules you may not be able to get the right visa.

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

While the St George’s MBBS is recognised by many different countries, students are advised to check with their own individual national authorities if they wish to practise in their own country.

USMLE

Students who are interested in pursuing a medical career in the United States have the opportunity to take the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 and Step 2 practice tests in Nicosia, free of charge. We offer one National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) practice test in Year 1 (CS) and two tests in Year 2 (T) to help students prepare for the USMLE Step 1.

Furthermore, the International Foundations of Medicine (IFOM) practice test is offered in Year 3 (P) to help students prepare for the USMLE Step 2 CK. The questions in these practice tests are derived from the USMLE bank of questions, which are used to generate the official USMLE examinations. Ultimately, these practice tests will allow our students to be better prepared to pursue a medical career in the United States.