University of Hertfordshire medical school welcomes its first students

It's taken a lot of courage to come here but the staff have been amazing and have made me feel welcome, said Vanessa Milne, a 56-year-old student from New Zealand who is part of the inaugural cohort at the University of Hertfordshire's new medical school in Hatfield.

The medical school opened ahead of schedule to confront a stark deficit of medical professionals in the East of England. Prof Zoe Aslanpour, the head of medicine at the university, detailed the regional disparity using data reported by the BBC. For every 1,000 people in the East of England we’ve got 2.5 doctors, whereas in England it’s about 3.2 – so we’re short of 4,500 doctors, Aslanpour said. Irene Ctori, the dean of the school of health, medicine and life sciences, noted that the institution aims to train physicians specifically to serve the local community. While the current intake is predominantly international—recruiting up to 70 students a year from nations such as Australia, Canada, the US, the United Arab Emirates, and Zimbabwe—the university stated it intends to welcome UK-funded medical students in future years as national allocations become available.

First Cohort Brings Varied Life Experiences to Campus

The first cohort brings varied life experiences and global perspectives to the Hatfield campus. Milne spent two decades trying to gain admission to medical school following a career in pain medicine, rehabilitation, and anaesthetics. My end goal is fluid for now and I’m going to carry on and see where that leads me but ultimately I’m interested in public health and pandemic response, Milne explained. Other students arrived via different international routes; Daven Chui, a 19-year-old originally from Hong Kong, relocated to Hertfordshire after living in York, praising the campus proximity to London and St Albans. Meanwhile, Aylin Bayramova moved from Azerbaijan to Cambridge for sixth form studies before enrolling. Bayramova highlighted the curriculum’s structure, noting that early hands-on education appealed to her preference for practical learning over four years of purely theoretical instruction.

Students Complete Clinical Training Across Local Healthcare Facilities

Students in the five-year program will complete clinical training across local healthcare facilities, including Watford General Hospital and the Lister Hospital in Stevenage, alongside rotations in general practice surgeries. Chui pointed to the facility’s clinical simulation spaces as a vital resource for early hands-on practice. The university has confirmed that clinical instruction and community-integrated placements will continue as the first-year cohort progresses through the newly established curriculum.