1941 as "a wartime testament to this spirit of enlightenment". students were to be those drawn from the polish army to britain and were taught in polish. classes in pre-clinical subjects were held at the medical school. clinical teaching was carried out mainly at the royal infirmary of edinburgh in lauriston place. former nurses' quarters in the grounds of the western general were designated the paderewski hospital and used to provide care for members of the polish armed forces and polish civilians. the project was initiated by lt. col. professor francis crew, then commanding officer at the military hospital in edinburgh castle, and lt. col. dr antoni jurasz, the school's organiser and first dean. the school was closed in september 1950. 336 students matriculated, of which 227 students graduated with the equivalent of an mbchb. a total of 19 doctors obtained a doctorate or md. a bronze plaque commemorating the existence of the polish school of medicine is located in the quadrangle of the medical school in teviot place. edinburgh model the edinburgh model was a model of medical teaching developed by the university of edinburgh in the 18th century and widely emulated around the world including at the university of pennsylvania perelman school of medicine and the mcgill university faculty of medicine. it was a two-tiered education model, revolutionary and well suited to the medical system of the uk at the time. first, the model offered its students studies in all branches of science, not just medicine. according to mary hewson, "every branch of science was regularly taught, and drawn together so compactly from one to the other." edinburgh offered the most extensive selection of courses in any university in britain. furthermore, it had a two-tiered education model which allowed a great number of students to matriculate, but allowed few to graduate. the requirements for an md were very stringent. students had to attend all lectures with the exception of midwifery (although it was strongly encouraged nonetheless), they had to study for at minimum 3 years, had to write a series of oral and written examinations in latin and had to compose a latin thesis and defend it before the whole faculty. consequently, the majority of students attended edinburgh with the intention of learning medicine for 1 year before leaving due to the costs of a degree and the fact that an md degree was not required to practice medicine. between 1765 and 1825, only 20% of edinburgh students graduated with an md. later on this edinburgh model developed into a more formal university medical education curriculum, which was spread around the world by its graduates. in 1825, the years of medical education increased from three to four years and in 1833, english replaced latin as the language of examination. admission gaining admission to study medicine at the university of edinburgh is highly competitive. in 2013, there were 2150 home/eu applications for 190 home/eu positions leading to an applicant to place ratio of 11 to 1. in addition, there were 715 overseas applications for 17 international spots, an applicant to place ratio of 42 to 1. the minimum entry qualifications include: sqa highers: aaaab. aaaab at one sitting to include chemistry and two of biology, maths or physics. students unable to take two of biology, maths, physics in s5 may take the missing subject(s) in s6. human biology may replace biology. standard grade credit (or intermediate 2) in biology, chemistry, english, maths. gce a levels: aaa. (a previous requirement for an additional as-level was dropped for 2018 entry following the reform of the english a level specifications). a levels must include chemistry and one of biology, maths or physics. only one of maths or further maths will be considered. human biology may replace biology. gcse grade b in biology, chemistry, english, maths. double award combined sciences at grade bb may replace gcse grades in sciences. international baccalaureate: 37 points. including 667 at higher level with chemistry and at least one other science subject (biology preferred). for the 2012 admissions year, no offer was given to a student who achieved below 41 ib points with 776 at higher level. additional requirements include the uk clinical aptitude test (ukcat) is a mandatory requirement for all students applying to study medicine at edinburgh and applicants are required to sit the test during the summer prior to application. the 6 year mbchb course can extend a pre-entry year for applicants without adequate subject choice but with the right qualifications who otherwise would be admitted on to the 6-year programme. an 'intercalated year' between years 2 and 3 to gain a bsc or bmedsci in a separate scientific discipline is mandatory. current course degrees available for study: medical sciences (bsc), medicine (6-year course) (mbchb) including an intercalated medical sciences degree (bmedsci). a new medical degree for healthcare professionals already working in scotland will start in september 2020. the hcp-med programme runs for 5 years, with the first 3 years part-time and online, while students continue part-time in their current employment. during this time they also have an attachment to a local gp and three full-time weeks in edinburgh each year. for years 4 and 5, they join the main undergraduate mbchb programme full-time and be based in edinburgh. the following course outline relates to the medicine (mbchb) course. the course adopts a number of programme themes throughout the delivery of all six years and which influence the way in which modules are taught and assessed. these are biomedical science, psychological aspects of medicine, social sciences and public health, evidence based medicine and research, the consultation, presentation, diagnosis and management, clinical communication, emergency care, clinical pharmacology, medical informatics, medical ethics and last but not least, professional development. years 1 and 2 first-year students undertake the study of biomedical science and health, ethics and society, which provide an introduction to the scientific, sociological and behavioural principles for the practice of medicine. clinical communication and resuscitation skills are also taught. students get early patient communication exposure through placements at gp practices, and have the opportunity to investigate a chosen healthcare issue in a clinical setting during student selected component 1. during the first semester, to december, students are taught the 'fundamentals of medicine' which consists of all the basics including genetics, embryology, anatomy, cytology, neuroscience, neoplasia, infection and immunity and pharmacology. in the second semester, the course moves into systems-oriented modules of respiratory, cardiology and locomotor systems, aided by problem-based learning exercises. alongside the fundamentals course, the health, ethics and society modules introduce students to topics such as lay perspectives of health, the experience of illness, doctor patient relationships and medical ethics. in year 2, students continue study of the body systems in biomedical science and pick further student selected components. systems and problem-based learning continues with neurology, gi and liver, endocrine and digestion and finally renal and urology. in epidemiology and statistics, critical appraisal of medical papers is applied to refine knowledge. in introduction to clinical practice, students undertake basic history-taking and examination in weekly general practice placements. year 3 for many years, students were able to undertake an intercalated degree in a scientific discipline of choice. from 2016 entry, this additional year has been made a standard part of the course. over 20 fields of scientific study are available with students typically joining the school of biological sciences or biomedical sciences. at the end of this year, students graduate with a bachelor of medical sciences (bmedsci) degree with honours in their chosen field of study. years 4 and 5 years 4 and 5 consist of systems-based clinical teaching aiming to cover the major medical and surgical specialties. clinical attachments are undertaken, with a strong emphasis on patient-based learning through bedside teaching, attending clinics and ward rounds. learning is enhanced with lectures, tutorials and research in student selected components. year 6 the final year completes the clinical years by covering general medicine, general practice, general surgery, critical care, anaesthesia, emergency medicine, medicine for the elderly. a 6-week elective attachment, where students often experience medicine abroad, and a 6-week fy1 assistantship are undertaken towards the end of the year following the final examinations. facilities undergraduate teaching through year 1 and 2 centres mainly in the old medical school buildings on teviot row, in the university quarter of edinburgh city centre. clinical years (4, 5 and 6) are spent spread across the three main teaching hospitals in edinburgh: the royal infirmary of edinburgh in the city's southern green belt; the western general hospital just west of the city centre, and the royal hospital for sick children in the centre of the city. the royal infirmary of edinburgh is the main clinical teaching environment of the medical school. the chancellor's building at little france, next to the new royal infirmary, was opened on 12 august 2002 by prince philip, duke of edinburgh, then chancellor to the university. the biological sciences and hospital-based clinical subjects both gained a 5 rating in the 2008 rae the edinburgh was ranked 1st among all uk medical schools for hospital-based clinical subjects in the 2008 rae edinburgh electronic medical curriculum edinburgh electronic medical curriculum is an online virtual learning environment (vle) which allows students securely protected access direct to any of the information on or for the mbchb course. it also encompasses announcements, discussions and the use of the tools embedded in eemec to facilitate and manage students' progress through the course including exam results and computer aided learning programmes. created in 1998 this was one of the first of its kind in the world and has since provided a model for other medical schools to follow. in 2005 the university of edinburgh was awarded a queen's anniversary prize for eemec and the virtual hospital online. in august 2017, eemec was retired in favour of learn, the university of edinburgh's vle. research edinburgh medical school was ranked third in the uk in the research excellence framework 2014 for neuroscience and biological sciences and top five for clinical medicine. edinburgh university is a member of the russell group of universities, receiving a quanta of a third of british research funding. in the last uk-wide research assessment exercise, three-quarters of the college's research staff were in academic units rated 5 or 5 star (the maximum possible ratings). this was more noteworthy in view of the large size of the college's research groupings. the college has average research income in excess of £45 million/annum, and the figure has been steadily increasing each year. main sources of research funding include uk research councils, uk medical and veterinary medical charities, industry and commerce and european union bodies. the university is home to 7 mrc centres, tied for 2nd in the uk with the university of oxford and behind the university of cambridge, a bhf centre, a wellcome trust centre, a wellcome trust clinical research facility, a cancer research uk centre, the anne rowling regenerative neurology clinic, the usher institute and the euan macdonald centre : mrc centre for cognitive ageing and cognitive epidemiology mrc centre for genetics and molecular medicine mrc centre for human genetics mrc centre for inflammation research mrc centre for public health research and policy mrc centre for regenerative medicine mrc centre for reproductive health wellcome trust centre for cell biology wellcome trust clinical research facility bhf centre for cardiovascular science euan macdonald centre for motor neurone disease edinburgh cancer research centre anne rowling regenerative neurology clinic institute of population health sciences and informatics recent research and discoveries: 2013 – researchers successfully synthesize human blood using stem cells 2014 – researchers led by dr. clare blackburn successfully regenerated a living organ, the thymus, for the first time in mice 2015 – researchers developed a uk national prescribing test taken by all graduating uk medical students textbooks many medical textbooks published around the world have been written by edinburgh graduates: robert muir – wrote muir's textbook of pathology now in its 14th edition john george macleod – wrote macleod's clinical examination now in its 12th edition and macleod's clinical diagnosis now in its 13th edition john c. boileau grant – wrote grant's method of anatomy now in its 11th edition and grant's atlas of anatomy now in its 13th edition stanley davidson – wrote davidson's principles and practice of medicine now in its 22nd edition