Clinical Education PhD

The Centre has an excellent track record in providing training within clinical education to MSc students, undergraduate medical students and fixed-term clinical Fellows.

Doctoral students receive direct support from at least two academic supervisors during their studies, and a dedicated thesis committee provides guidance throughout the programme of research.

Research training is tailored to each doctoral student, but typically includes material from the well-established MSc ‘Research in Clinical Education’ and ‘Dissertation’ courses, an extensive programme of university PhD training workshops and meetings, and fortnightly ‘Medical Education Forum’ and ‘CME Research Meeting’ events for presentation of completed research and work-in-progress.

The Centre for Medical Education is based in The Chancellors Building, Little France, next to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

Most faculty and doctoral students share three large offices, with others based in the state-of-the-art Clinical Skills Centre.

These entry requirements are for the 2025/26 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2026/27 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2025.

A UK masters degree, or its international equivalent, in a clinical, medical or health field, and a primary clinical qualification, such as an MBChB, BVS, BDS or Bachelor of Nursing.

You must have experience of clinical, medical, allied healthcare or veterinary education, for example teaching undergraduate or postgraduate students.

We will also consider your application if you have a biomedical or social science qualification, or a professional qualification, such as RGN, with appropriate clinical experience; please contact the programme team to check before you apply.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country

English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency which will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 23 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 185 with at least 176 in each component.
• Trinity ISE: ISE III with passes in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 73 with at least 65 in each component. We do not accept PTE Academic Online.
• Oxford ELLT: 8 overall with at least 7 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Find out more about our language requirements:

• English language requirements

Tuition fees

Award	Title	Duration	Study mode
PhD	Clinical Education	3 Years	Full-time	Tuition fees
PhD	Clinical Education	6 Years	Part-time	Tuition fees

Funding for postgraduate study is different to undergraduate study, and many students need to combine funding sources to pay for their studies.

Most students use a combination of the following funding to pay their tuition fees and living costs:

• borrowing money

  • taking out a loan

  • family support

• personal savings

• income from work

• employer sponsorship

• scholarships

Explore sources of funding for postgraduate study

Featured funding

• College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine funding opportunities

UK government postgraduate loans

If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK’s governments.

The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on:

• your programme
• the duration of your studies
• your tuition fee status

Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.

• UK government and other external funding

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding