Students pursuing a medical degree at the University of Exeter have been offered free accommodation as well as 10,000 pounds in cash in exchange for a one-year deferral from their studies.
2021 has seen a record number of applications to medicine courses throughout the UK, a 20 per cent increase from last year.
The limit on placements in medicine in monitored and capped by the UK government.
If accepted students agree to defer their acceptance until 2022, it may potentially lead to fewer available placements next year.
The University of Exeter has written to students who have accepted their placements in the institution’s medicine program for 2021, to make them aware of the deferment offer.
In return for agreeing to a year-long deferral, student swill be guaranteed a placement on the 2022 course, one year of free accommodation, and a cash bursary of 10,000 pounds “to spend on preparing yourself”, which would be dispersed at the end of October 2021.
Accommodation at Exeter’s Rowancroft building would normally cost students 6,574 pounds for an en-suite, or 7,611 pounds for a studio flat.
The letter includes the university’s acknowledgment that the deferment would mean “big changes” for students’ plans, but assures that their placement would be guaranteed for 2022 so long as they achieve the necessary grades specified in their offer letter.
Professor Mark Goodwin, Exeter’s deputy vice chancellor, said the university had seen a significant increase in students who had applied to the school’s medicine program.
“This is unprecedented for us, something has happened this year to make a higher proportion choose us. More students are holding us as their firm choice this year”
As the total number of students that can be admitted to the course is regulated by the government, Exeter is asking applicants holding a firm offer to make their attendance decisions by July 30.
“We want to deliver a really high quality student experience, and deliver those safe and secure NHS placements so we can train the number of doctors the government asks us to train.”
Placements in courses like medicine are limited by the government in part because a large subsidy from the public is needed to meet the high cost of a medical degree, totaling around 180,000 pounds per student.
Additionally, all medical students must undertake clinical placements with the NHS in the last three years of their study.
As such, universities are given a certain limit on placements that they are not permitted to exceed.
Placements in medical programs are therefore very competitive, with only about one third of applicants being offered a spot.
Dr. Katie Petty-Saphon from the Medical Schools Council said that the increase in 2021 applications has made it difficult for universities to judge how many offers they should dole out.
“In the past the very best applicants might receive four offers which would mean they would reject – and thus free up – places at three medical schools.
“This did not happen this year and so the ‘conversion rate’ of offers to firmly accepted places has changed, meaning that some medical schools have more acceptances than they were anticipating.”
Petty-Saphon added that there are the same amount of placed available this year as in past years, around 7,500.
Universities throughout the UK are also struggling to accommodate students who have had to defer their acceptances due to last year’s A-level pandemic grading that left more students than usual with the necessary grades needed to attend university.
“The government has funded 450 additional places for applicants who were required to defer last year – and so such candidates are not taking up places destined for 2021 applicants” said Dr Petty-Saphon.
It is not yet clear if the government will be providing additional money for additional placements next year, which may result in fewer available placements for University of Exeter applicants in 2022.
