Leicester University launches new scholarship scheme to help more disadvantaged students into medicine

State school applicants with 'compassion, empathy and enthusiasm' are encouraged to apply for one of 25 places on the new scheme

Medical courses in the UK generally last five or six years - which can be expensive for students who aren't earning (Getty)

Disadvantaged students who aspire to study medicine will be able to benefit from scholarship packages worth £19,000, the University of Leicester has announced.

The move comes as latest figures show 80 per cent of all medical students in the UK currently stem from just 20 per cent of schools, fuelling concerns that courses are inaccessible for those from poorer backgrounds.

Despite being actively encouraged by the Medical Council, few universities offer foundation years, which leading academics say could help widen student participation in subjects like medicine.

Leicester University officials say the institution’s medical school aims to extend access to students from disadvantaged backgrounds through the support of a charitable trust.

A new foundation year is also to open and begin taking students from September 2017.

Sir Peter Lampl, Chairman of the Sutton Trust and of the Education Endowment Foundation said the initiative will “help to level the playing field” and ensure “more young people from non-privileged homes gain coveted medical school places.”

He added: ”The medical profession is missing out on an awful lot of potential talent from bright pupils from low and middle incomes.”

Under the scholarship scheme, qualifying students would be offered £9,000 to join the new foundation year to better equip them to study medicine at the Russell Group institution.

Students who choose to go on to study medicine or related subjects after the foundation year will qualify for a further £2,000 yearly scholarship, helping to fund the rest of their degree.

Applicants from state schools and lower socioeconomic groups will be encouraged to apply for one of 25 places on the new scheme.

Professor Nick London, Head of the Medical School at the University of Leicester, said while there was no doubt an undergraduate medical course is demanding, attributes to become the type of doctor the University wants to educate were “compassion, empathy, enthusiasm, determination, dedication, resilience and common-sense”.

It is also hoped that the programme will help boost the local health care provision in Leicestershire.

Philip Baker, Dean of Medicine and Head of the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, said that training young people will replenish the “depleting" supply of General Practitioners and prevent a northern brain-drain by encouraging more young people to stay and practice in the area.