Barts & The London - In Depth

Founded: St Bartholomew's in 1123, London Hospital Medical College in 1785 and Dental Teaching Hospital in 1911; became school of Queen Mary in 1995.

Structural features: Part of Queen Mary University of London.

Site: City and East London: Whitechapel, West Smithfield, Charterhouse Square and Mile End.

How to get there: Whitechapel, St Paul's, Barbican or Mile End underground stations; many buses to each site.

Academic features: Integrated teaching at Mile End and Whitechapel campuses; clinical teaching at hospital sites. Problem-based learning (PBL) is a central element of the medical curriculum. 10 pa join clinical course after pre-clinical at eg Oxbridge. Intercalated BSc or BMedSci course open to students who have completed 4th year of MBBS (competitive, not automatic).

Awarding body: London University.

Main undergraduate awards: MBBS. BDS, BMedSci, BSc.

Length of courses: 5 years; 6 years with intercalated BSc/BMedSci.

Library & information services: Three main collections: Whitechapel, West Smithfield and Mile End, all with audio-visual learning aids, computer resources and study places. Separate IT services; 600 workstations; helpdesk 8 hours/day. New students have library introduction; IT courses (eg on Windows, most software packages, basic programming languages).

Study abroad: Erasmus and Socrates programme.

Student advice & services: Pastoral pool scheme for all students, senior tutor allocated to students. Health centre, in-house dental treatment, nursery, Nightline, counsellors, chaplains.

Amenities: Association of Medical and Dental Students plus Queen Mary SU. Book shops, travel centre, bank, snackbars, billiards room, common rooms, nightclub, bars.

Sporting facilities: Numerous sports clubs, multigym, squash courts, gymnasium, swimming pool, athletics grounds, rowing club with boats at Chiswick. Sailing club with own cottage at Burnham-on-Crouch.

Accommodation: All first years in campus accommodation, if home address outside the M25. See Queen Mary.

Financial help: See Queen Mary.

Tuition fees: Home students up to £1200 pa for first degrees (in 2005). International students pay for medicine £13,640 pa (pre-clinical), £22,330 (clinical); dentistry £11,850 pa (year 1) to £20.930 (year 5).