​The MSC (medical students committee) represents medical students in the UK. We consider and address issues of importance to medical students and make sure your views are represented in wider BMA policy.

Updates from the MSC

Changes to UKFPO Applications for Specialised Foundation Programme (SFP)

Medical students were clear that recruitment to the Specialised Foundation Programme (SFP) should consider students’ aptitude and enthusiasm for research, education or leadership. We were was therefore disappointed that, in February 2024, it was announced these posts would be randomly allocated under Preference Informed Allocation (PIA). With the medical academic staff committee, we set out our concerns in a statement and raised these issues with UKFPO, NHS England and the Medical Schools Council. 

As a result, NHS England and the Medical Students Council launched a new partnership to give students the opportunity to apply directly to medical schools for certain SFP posts in England. This arrangement means that one third of these posts will be managed directly by medical schools with support from the Medical Schools Council in England for 2025. The remaining two thirds of SFP posts will be managed by NHS England through the preference informed allocation process (PIA). 

While we welcome this compromise, we remain committed to advocating for a system in which all recruitment to the programme is done on the basis of aptitude for an academic career, as well as the availability of appropriate opportunities and supervision in the applicant’s chosen location.

Read our guidance on the application process.

Reconsidering the allocation process to UK foundation training

• BMA view on the UKFPO’s stakeholder engagement exercise on proposed changes to the UK Foundation Programme allocation process.
• Watch the recording of our latest webinar with UKFPO and Prof. Sam that explores the pros and cons of the current allocation method and what an alternative to ranking could look like.

MSC wellbeing checklist

The medical student wellbeing work aims to contribute towards the standardisation of medical student support services throughout the region.

In 2022, a wellbeing checklist was launched to provide guidance to medical schools on measures that can be implemented to protect and promote student welfare. It has become a source of lobbying for medical students and used as a benchmark for what medical schools could and should be offering their students.

Following this, in 2024 we surveyed over 500 medical students about their experiences and looked into the discrepancies in student wellbeing support services offered by medical schools across the country. Read the full report and the summary of the key findings.

Our priorities

MSC policy is set by the annual medical students conference and the BMA's ARM (annual representative meeting). As future doctors, we want to safeguard our NHS. As such, our four main priorities are:

Finance

• Lobby for the protection of the NHS bursary for AHP and medical students.
• Lobby for sufficient and equitable travel expenses for medical students on placement.
• Lobby against increase of fees for international medical students.

Welfare

• Addressing racial harassment and other harmful behaviours at medical schools

• Improve awareness of student mental health issues.

• Lobby for improvements to support systems.

Education

• UKFPO applications for the Specialised Foundation Programme
• MDDAs and 4-year degrees
• UKMLA implementation
• Curricular policy review and professionalism  

Widening participation

• Support students from a widening participation background, including mature students.
• Engage the wider BMA and relevant stakeholders in widening participation, making recommendations and/or developing resources.

Our people

Each UK medical school elects a representative to the MSC for one year. To find out who the MSC representative for your medical school is, please contact the MSC secretariat at [email protected] or download the full list below.

The MSC also has an executive subcommittee, which is entitled to take decisions in between meetings of the MSC.

Chair: Rob Tucker

Associated committees

• Welsh medical students committee.
• Northern Ireland medical students committee.
• Scottish medical students committee.

Our meetings

The committee meets four times a year to discuss the latest issues affecting medical students. Our meetings are open to all elected medical student representatives for each medical school across the UK, but non-members can apply to attend via the committee visitors scheme.

Committee meetings:

• Friday 28 February 2025 (Hybrid meeting at BMA House)
• Friday 13 June 2025 (Microsoft Teams) 

For more information, please email [email protected]

Conference

The MSC annual conference is an opportunity to discuss the current issues affecting medical students and to pass motions based on these debates.

BMA members from all medical schools across the UK are invited to attend, with each medical school allocated a certain number of conference places.

Any policy passed at the conference directs the MSC’s work for the coming year.

2025

Watch the MSC 2025 conference:

Day 1
Day 2

How to join

There are many advantages to becoming involved in our committees. You can actively influence BMA policy-making and negotiations, represent your colleagues' voices and develop your leadership skills. 

Each committee has a few routes to becoming an elected member. In the case of the Medical students committee, this is: 

The election section below is kept up to date with details about any running elections, so make sure you keep checking it throughout the year.  

Elections

Get in touch

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about the work of the MSC, please email [email protected].