The Queen Mary Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry programme, the same programme you will study in Malta, was ranked second in London in the Guardian University Guide 2020, the Complete University Guide 2020 and The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019. We were also ranked second in London for student satisfaction in the 2019 National Student Survey (first in Dentistry). QS World University Rankings 2019 placed us third in the world for research citations in medicine.

World Directory of Medical Schools

We are proud to be listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools, developed through a partnership between the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) and the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER). These organisations collaborate to identify new schools for inclusion in the directory and to update existing school records.

General Medical Council

After the degree: Practising in the UK

The course is accredited by the UK General Medical Council (GMC). The GMC helps protect patients and improve medical education and practice in the UK by setting standards for students and doctors. The GMC monitors our compliance with the standards and requirements set out in Promoting Excellence: Standards for Medical Education and Training.

At the end of the undergraduate programme, you will receive your MBBS degree, which is a Primary Medical Qualification (PMQ) from Queen Mary University of London. Holding a PMQ entitles you to provisional registration with the General Medical Council, subject only to its acceptance that there are no Fitness to Practise concerns requiring consideration. Provisional registration is time-limited to a maximum of three years and 30 days (1,125 days in total). After this period, your provisional registration will normally expire.

In the UK, provisionally registered doctors can only practise in approved Foundation Year 1 posts; the law does not allow provisionally registered doctors to undertake any other type of work as a doctor. To apply for a Foundation Year 1 post in the UK, you will need to apply during the final year of your undergraduate programme through the UK Foundation Programme Office selection scheme.

Until 2025, suitably qualified MBBS Malta graduates were extremely successful in securing places on the UK Foundation Programme (FP). However, Queen Mary does not administer the UK Foundation Programme and cannot control whether, or on what basis, applicants are accepted into the programme. Nor does Queen Mary determine immigration rights or the rules governing the right to work in the UK. That is a matter for the UK Government and is entirely independent of holding a degree that is recognised by the UK GMC for its academic content.

On 13 January 2026, the UK Government announced emergency legislation that prioritises UK medical graduates over International Medical Graduates (IMGs) in the allocation of jobs for the UK Foundation Programme and specialty training, and this became law in early March. Following the introduction of this legislation, QMUL Malta graduates are now designated as IMGs, despite undertaking an identical course to that followed by QMUL London students, taking the same examinations, including UK national qualifying examinations, and being regulated by the UK General Medical Council (GMC).

The Government was not prepared to accept any amendment to the primary legislation. We have been advised that they are sympathetic to the position of our students and that there may be scope for some subsequent modification of this position. However, we do not yet know what this will mean in practice. The Act contains provision for the Secretary of State to include additional groups of students in the prioritised category, and we continue to press the case for our graduates.

However, it is important not to overstate the implications of this new legislation. Our graduates remain eligible to apply for the UK Foundation Programme, and we remain confident that a large majority will still secure posts in the UK FP through subsequent allocation rounds. The first tranche of UK Foundation Programme posts was offered to a number of our students on 16 June. We expect an even larger number to be offered posts in a second allocation round on 1 July. Additional posts will become available later in July. We are also in the process of developing alternative plans for any students who remain without posts in August. This year's cohort has been particularly affected by the timing of the legislation, which was enacted at a point when it was impossible for them to pursue many alternative options because application deadlines had already passed. This will clearly not present the same challenge for future cohorts.

Successful completion of Foundation Year 1 is normally achieved within 12 months. In the UK, the full Foundation Programme lasts two years, while the Malta Foundation Programme, which is also two years in duration, awards its certificate at the end of the programme. Following successful completion of Foundation Year 1, graduates become eligible to apply for full registration with the General Medical Council. Full registration, together with a licence to practise, is required for unsupervised medical practice in the NHS or in private practice within the UK.

After the degree: Practising outside the UK

Completion of the Malta Foundation Programme is recognised in the UK as an equivalent academic experience to completing the UK Foundation Programme, including eligibility for full registration with the GMC upon successful completion of the two-year programme. However, it does not confer the same prioritisation status for UK specialty training as completion of the UK Foundation Programme. Students completing a Foundation Programme elsewhere (i.e. outside Malta) are likely to be required to undertake formal assessment before being permitted to practise in the UK.

If a graduate completes the Malta Foundation Programme and still aspires to undertake higher postgraduate training in the UK, this remains entirely possible. First, we fully expect that many IMGs will continue to be appointed to training posts. There is also a mechanism for gaining prioritised status through experience. There are numerous locally employed doctors working in the NHS, often referred to as Clinical Fellows. A certain amount of NHS experience (as yet undefined, although the Medical Royal Colleges have proposed two years) will qualify an individual in such a post for prioritised status in subsequent job applications. These two years, if that indeed becomes the agreed period, will not simply be "marking time". We have been assured that experience gained in these posts will be recognised as valuable in further training.

In addition, there is an alternative route to achieving the same status as someone who completes a formal training programme and subsequently applies for consultant posts in the UK. This route is portfolio-based, and QMUL Malta graduates will not have a lower level of priority when applying through this pathway merely because they did not obtain their degree through study physically based in the UK.

In short, while this change in UK legislation presents a challenge and we do not yet know the full extent of its long-term impact, we have reasonable expectations that our graduates will continue to be able to pursue higher training in the UK, subject to applicable immigration requirements. However, this remains an evolving situation, and no one, including UK-prioritised graduates, can be given a guarantee regarding future employment.

Students are advised to consider their long-term career aspirations and determine what requirements other countries may have for undertaking early and later postgraduate training. The University will provide support and guidance in this regard. It is important that students discuss these plans with us as early as possible.

Conclusion

We recognise that the current situation is unsettling for our students and understand that it may also be a concern for those considering applying to the QMUL Malta programme. There are still a number of issues requiring clarification, and we are actively pursuing further information. We will continue to provide updates throughout the summer so that applicants have access to the most current information available before making a final decision regarding acceptance of an offer to study on the MBBS Programme in Malta.

Although this information was correct at the time of writing (21 June 2026), students should be aware that regulations, policies and employment arrangements in this area may change over time. Applicants are therefore encouraged to seek the most up-to-date guidance when making decisions about their future training and career plans.

Recognition

The Medicine MBBS Malta degree is recognised by the General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK. We also have applied for recognition in a number of countries. We are currently updating this information and it will placed online shortly.