Southampton’s European medical degree celebrates 10th anniversary

The Faculty of Medicine is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the BM(EU) course, Southampton’s undergraduate medical degree delivered jointly in the UK and Germany. More than 100 students have completed the programme, which is a joint degree between the University of Southampton and the Kassel School of Medicine at Gesundheit Nordhessen Holdings (GNH), a German healthcare provider.

BM(EU) graduates can combine the best elements of UK and German healthcare and are working successfully in clinical practice or research in Germany, the UK and other countries in Europe. 

The course is GMC regulated and offers a European clinical experience within a UK curriculum and is modelled closely on the University's long-established five-year programme, BM5. Students alongside BM5 and BM6 students in Southampton for the first two years before settling in Kassel in Germany for their final three years. Clinical examinations take place in Southampton.

On graduating, students receive provisional registration from the GMC which entitles them to apply for a licence to work in Germany. They then complete a Foundation Year (FY1) in Kassel which is quality assured by the Wessex deanery. The BM(EU) programme is one of the first UK programmes to receive certification of equivalence to a German medical degree since reciprocal recognition of qualifications with the EU was ended. Successful completion of the FY1 year leads to full registration with the GMC and to German, and then EU, registration, allowing our graduates to work anywhere in Europe.

Clare Polack, Programme Director BM(EU), said: “This is a really unique course offering a fantastic opportunity to experience, and reflect on, clinical practice in both the UK and Germany. As an innovative, forward-thinking faculty, we wanted to learn more about training in a European health system and offer students an opportunity to gain invaluable clinical experience in Germany.

“Our students learn clinical medicine in the German language, context and culture but are examined in English in the UK culture and context. It is a challenging course requiring them to become familiar with all aspects of two systems from guidelines to cultural norms. Our students rise to this challenge and achieve amazing results equal to students on our UK based programmes.

“In a post-Brexit world, this course demonstrates the continued value of working with our European colleagues. The BM(EU) course increases the diversity and learning experience of our students on all programmes as well all the teaching staff, clinicians and researchers who work with us. It is a massive achievement to reach this 10-year milestone and a testament to our strong relationship with Kassel School of Medicine and our talented and dedicated staff and students.”

Anne Meierkord graduated from the BM(EU) in 2020 after also intercalated in a MSc in Control of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is currently based in Berlin working clinically at the Charité University Hospital’s Institute of International Health training in infectious diseases, and academically as a health policy analyst at the Centre for International Health Protection at the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s national public health institute.

She said: “Studying the BM(EU) course gave me the opportunity to experience two different healthcare systems from an early stage in my career. Learning about differences in clinical guidelines between the two countries spurred my interest to critically reflect how the design of a health system impacts patient treatment and their experience in a health system. Looking back, this had a big influence on why I developed such an interest in global health and assessing how we can protect and improve the health of people on a national and global level.”

Find out more about the BM(EU) here.