Medical Education (Taught)

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.

The MSc in Medical Education is a two-year, part-time professional development course aimed at medical and healthcare education professionals.

The MSc in Medical Education focuses on the history, contemporary issues and development of the field, as well as research methods, and design and evaluation of research in medical and health professional education. It is aimed at medical professionals and allied health professionals who are involved, or intend to be involved, in educating future health professionals. These professionals may include not only postgraduate physicians but also a range of graduate allied health science practitioners involved in the care of patients and in the education of future healthcare workforce.

The course is offered jointly by the Department of Education in the Social Sciences Division and the Medical School in the Medical Sciences Division, with formal responsibility for the programme resting with the Department of Education. Interdisciplinarity is endemic in education and medicine, and team-teaching capitalises upon the distinctive knowledge and skills of academics within the two departments.

Course structure
In the first year of the course, you will be required to attend six in-person teaching weekends at the Department of Education in Oxford. These will consist of interactive lectures and workshops, with required preparation (eg pre-readings) and post-teaching weekend activities (eg formative written reflections and peer feedback in small groups).

In the second year, you will work on an educational research and development project of your choice under the supervision of a member of academic staff culminating in a dissertation.

Research in the department is organised around three major themes:

• Language, Cognition and Development

• Policy, Economy and Society

• Learning: Pedagogy, Learning and Knowledge.

Within each of these themes there are several research groups and centres. All staff and doctoral students belong to one or more of these research groups, each of which has its own seminar programme to which graduate students often contribute. In addition, the department as a whole sponsors regular seminars and public lectures which attract distinguished national and international speakers which students of the course are welcome to attend.