Placements
Queen Mary's Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry prioritises problem-based learning, aided through early patient contact and early clinical skills. Early clinical exposure is promoted through the Medicine in Society (MedSoc) component of the medical degree.
As a Queen Mary student in Malta, you will be meeting patients early on in your undergraduate medical education, helping you understand patients and how they are affected by their condition. A Primary Care Placement takes place in Year 1, followed by primary and secondary care placements in Year 2.
Clinical Placements are organised within Malta’s major hospitals, including the Gozo General Hospital, as well as Mater Dei Hospital, Mount Carmel Hospital, St Vincent de Paul, and Karin Grech Hospital on Malta.
Here at Queen Mary, Malta we want you to graduate with as much hands-on experience as possible under your white coat. We think placements are the best way to train new doctors, because they allow students to understand what life is like in a working hospital.
But for every placement there are two perspectives. As a doctor, what's it like taking students around the wards? And as a student, how scary are placements and how do they help? We asked Dr Robert Sciberras, Lead Clinician at Gozo General Hospital, and student Jonathan Morris to share their stories.
Check out One placement, Two perspectives
Primary Care placements take place in community clinics in and around Malta. They are led by GP tutors and are aimed at introducing students to patients and patients’ experience of health and ill-health over the course of their lives.
Clinical Foundation years in the UK
As an MBBS Malta graduate, with a degree validated by the UK General Medical Council (GMC), you will be able to apply for a Foundation Doctor position in the UK. The UK Foundation Programme regards all QMUL MBBS graduates as equal, regardless of whether they have been based in London or Malta. QMUL will amalgamate the two lists of students, producing our overall list of graduates for consideration by the UK Foundation Programme. However, the ability to proceed with an application for the UK Foundation Programme depends on an individual’s immigration status and right to work in the UK, i.e. his or her eligibility. Students who have British Citizenship will already have the right to work in the UK. UK immigration rules change frequently and are complex and it is the responsibility of the students themselves to determine their eligibility since only they will be fully aware of their individual circumstances.
From 2025, all UK medical students will need to pass the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) before joining the medical register. We will deliver the MLA as part of your assessments and overall qualification. The MLA will set a common threshold for safe practice, giving patients and employers greater confidence in doctors new to working in the UK. Further information can be found here.
Clinical Foundation years in Malta
You will be able to apply for Foundation School posts in Malta. The right to work in Malta will depend on immigration rules in place at the time of your graduation.
Right to work in Malta
EU nationals hold the right to work in Malta and are exempt from applying for an employment licence. Since you will be staying in Malta for longer than three months, you will have to apply for a Maltese e-residence card. An EU citizen and family members who have resided legally in Malta for a continuous period of five years may then apply for permanent residency.
Non-EU citizens must apply for an employment licence (Work Permit) to be able to work in Malta. A work permit is issued for third country nationals who wish to work and reside in Malta. The permit will be valid for work with a single employer. Employment licences are generally issued for a period of one year.
The Employment and Training Corporation in Malta screens all third country national applications for a single work permit. The Corporation takes into account labour market considerations, including the national situation with regard to surpluses and shortages in the specific employment sector.
Language requirements to work as an FY doctor in Malta
The Malta Medical Council (MMC) requires that qualified doctors demonstrate fluency in medical Maltese in order to be able to practice medicine in Malta. Queen Mary Malta has developed a course in Medical Maltese. We have asked the MMC to recognise this as evidence of adequate fluency in the language to be able to practice there.
Residency in the USA and Canada
US and Canadian students can study on the five-year MBBS (Malta) Programme directly after high school without first undertaking a four-year college undergraduate degree. Students may apply to stay in Malta for their early postgraduate training at the end of the five-year MBBS (Malta) programme or apply for residency in their home (or indeed third) country, without having to undertake a four-year postgraduate medicine qualification.
The Sponsor Note on our listing in the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS) confirms that the MBBS degree, awarded by Barts & The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary in Malta, is acceptable to the Education Commission of Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). This means that current students and graduates of this medical school are eligible to apply for ECFMG certification. If the USMLE Steps 1 and 2 CK and Step 2 CS requirements are satisfied, graduates may continue and take Step 3. This acceptability by ECFMG also allows our students and graduates to sit Part 1 of the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCCQE).
