Leicester Warwick Medical School (LWMS)

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Dean: Professor Ian Lauder MB BS FRCPath FMedSci

LWMS is an exciting partnership between two of the United Kingdom’s foremost universities to combine excellence in teaching and research with the highest quality medical education across a range of innovative programmes.

The medical school has introduced two new programmes to allow graduates of the biological sciences or health sciences to follow a four year course at the University of Warwick campus. Based on the Leicester University five-year MB ChB undergraduate curriculum, the four-year students commence a shortened Phase I of the course (one and a half years), compared to two and a half years for the non-graduate direct entry students based at the Leicester campus. All LWMS students will undertake a common Phase II following the pre-existing Leicester curriculum.

Both four and five year curricula aim to produce new graduates with the clinical competence to work as pre-registration house offices, and the potential to develop along the curriculum of medical education into humane and rational doctors.

The medical students moved into a new building on the Warwick Campus in October 2001. The university and trust are partners in developing the new clinical sciences building currently under construction on the Walsgrave site. The total intake of medical students in LWMS for the year 2002 is 303 (128 on the Warwick campus and 175 at Leicester). LWMS project an eventual undergraduate population of 1,400.

LWMS comprises the School of Medicine at the University of Leicester and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Warwick. Governance is by means of a joint committee of the two universities, chaired by one or other of the two vice-chancellors on an annual alternating basis. The dean of the LWMS is an employee of the University of Leicester, but has responsibility for all medical school activity on both campuses. The trust, and in particular the development of the new hospital on the Walsgrave site, will provide an optimal educational environment. Combined with the excellent reputations of the Universities and Warwick’s position at the top of the HEFCE research and training league tables, LWMS have ensured recruitment of an excellent calibre of academic clinical and non-clinical teaching staff.

The University of Warwick

The University of Warwick is one of the United Kingdom’s leading universities. It is research-led and is committed to providing undergraduate and postgraduate teaching of the highest quality. Sited on the southern side of Coventry where the city meets the county of Warwickshire, the university is the place of study for eighteen thousand undergraduate and postgraduate students, and employs almost four thousand staff across a range of departments.

The University was ranked fifth among UK universities for quality of research in the UK Funding Councils’ 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. Over 91% of the University's academic staff are located in departments with top research ratings of 5 or 5*.

Twenty of the twenty-two university academic departments which have been subject to the Teaching Quality Assessment process conducted by HEFCE have been rated 'excellent' or scored twenty-one or more points out of twenty-four for the quality of their teaching. The University was rated sixth among UK universities in The Times Good University Guide 2001.

The university is distinctive amongst top research universities in giving high priority to improving access to life-long learning opportunities and to close collaboration with its local and regional community. Two of the most tangible examples of the university's contribution to the local community are the University Science Park and the Warwick Arts Centre.

Coventry University

The School of Health and Social Sciences comprises more than two hundred teaching and research staff, supported by skilled administrative, clerical and technical personnel. Over three and a half thousand students are enrolled on courses within the school, which offers expertise in the areas of health studies, disability studies, occupational therapy, midwifery, nursing, physiotherapy, psychology, social policy, sociology and social work. The school welcomes students wishing to pursue MPhil or PhD research on a part-time or full-time basis and offers supervision across a range of disciplines. A team of staff working in applied health and social sciences supports the school's research.

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