Two new medical schools were announced this week by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Department of Health. The universities of York and Hull were successful in a joint bid, as were the universities of Sussex and Brighton.
Just over 1,000 more medical places were announced, increasing intakes by about 50 per cent since 1998.
The largest number of places, 150, went to a joint bid from the universities of Manchester and Keele. York and Hull will take 128 students and Sussex and Brighton 130 students. The universities of Leicester and Warwick successfully bid for 100, Nottingham for 90 students, Bristol for 80 and the universities of Birmingham, Leeds with Bradford, Liverpool, Peninsula Medical School, in South West England, Queen Mary (London) and Southampton got 40 places each.
In all, 16 universities were allocated more places. Almost 40 per cent of the new places go to universities offering four-year graduate entry courses.