Universities keen to cash in on the biggest expansion in medical education since the 1960s must this week confirm their intention to bid for 1,000 extra places. Among the bidders will be the Open University, which is expected to put in two submissions - one with Exeter and Plymouth universities for a joint postgraduate networked medical school in the Southwest, and another with three existing medical schools to provide a distance-learning foundation programme in medicine for non-medical graduates, which will enable them to enter shortened degrees. Outline bids need to be made by mid-March, with an announcement of 2000-01 intakes expected by the end of May.