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17/10/2003
Top-up fees will discourage students from medicine: BMA
The BMA's Medical Students Committee has expressed concerns that top-up fees will discourage students - particularly those from working class backgrounds - from applying to medical school.
In a meeting with Higher Education Minister Alan Johnson last week, representatives of the committee expressed concerns about the continued domination of medicine by the middle classes.
Representatives told the minister that seven-out-of-10 medical students were from professional or managerial backgrounds, and fewer than a fifth come from families where the main source of income was manual or routine work.
Daniel Gibbons, deputy chairman of the BMA's Medical Students Committee, said: "It is extremely positive that the government has recognised the need to make medical careers an option for people from all backgrounds.
"However, the prospect of large debts will do nothing to encourage the poorest students to apply to one of the most expensive university courses."
Applications to medical schools from students from the two lowest socio-economic groups halved between 1996 and 2001.
The student committee added that medical students had already been hard hit by debt, and the intensity of the course means that there are few opportunities for part-time work and students also have to meet additional expenses for essential equipment.
(gmcg)
In a meeting with Higher Education Minister Alan Johnson last week, representatives of the committee expressed concerns about the continued domination of medicine by the middle classes.
Representatives told the minister that seven-out-of-10 medical students were from professional or managerial backgrounds, and fewer than a fifth come from families where the main source of income was manual or routine work.
Daniel Gibbons, deputy chairman of the BMA's Medical Students Committee, said: "It is extremely positive that the government has recognised the need to make medical careers an option for people from all backgrounds.
"However, the prospect of large debts will do nothing to encourage the poorest students to apply to one of the most expensive university courses."
Applications to medical schools from students from the two lowest socio-economic groups halved between 1996 and 2001.
The student committee added that medical students had already been hard hit by debt, and the intensity of the course means that there are few opportunities for part-time work and students also have to meet additional expenses for essential equipment.
(gmcg)
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