With medicine a popular career choice among Singaporean students, the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) has long maintained a practice of recognising medical graduates from specific universities following reviews. The objective of SMC’s reviews are to ensure that foreign-trained medical doctors applying to practice in Singapore have received comparable training abroad. The reviews consider criteria such as the international ranking of schools, the language of instruction, and the performance of doctors from these universities before deciding on recognition in Singapore. Medical professionals who graduate from recognised institutions can apply to practice in Singapore after graduation and may also need to fulfil additional requirements set out by SMC. SMC has stated that it will continue to assess foreign-trained medical doctors in their initial years to ensure high standards of medical practice.

The Ministry of Health has now accepted the SMC’s recent recommendation of foreign universities. From 1 January 2025, the updated list of 112 approved medical schools (including 24 from the UK) will be published in the Second Schedule of the Medical Registration Act 1997, which can be found at: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/MRA1997?ProvIds=Sc2-#Sc2-.

The five newly approved UK universities are as follows:

  • The Queen’s University of Belfast, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences.
  • University of Aberdeen, School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition.
  • University of Leeds, School of Medicine.
  • University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Faculty of Medical Sciences. 
  • University of Warwick, Warwick Medical School.

The decision to recognise more universities comes as Singapore prepares to better care for its ageing population. In light of this announcement, Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung stated on his social media: "As our population ages, we have been growing pipelines of doctors to support our healthcare needs. We have increased the annual local medical school intake from around 400 students in 2013 to over 500 in 2023 and are supplementing this with doctors from overseas medical schools."

What does this mean for UK universities?

UK universities featured in this updated list can expect an increase in interest from Singaporean students seeking to study medicine overseas. These universities may benefit from any efforts invested in student recruitment activities in Singapore. The current list of recognised universities can also be found at: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/MRA1997?ProvIds=Sc2-#Sc2-

Source: https://www.moh.gov.sg/newsroom/nine-more-overseas-medical-schools-recognised