Surgical Sciences (Online Learning) MSc, PgCert, PgDip

Level: Postgraduate taught

Subject: Medicine

Year of entry: 2027

Study options

Mode of study

Online learning

Part-time
  • PgCert | 1 year | Start date: September 2027
  • PgDip | 2 years | Start date: September 2027
  • MSc | 3 years | Start date: September 2027

Key facts

School

Edinburgh Medical School

College

College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine

Apply now

Open Days on Demand

Dive into an extensive selection of programme-specific session recordings hosted by our Academic and Professional Services staff.


About the degree programme

This three-year, part-time online programme offers early-career surgeons a globally connected, evidence-based education aligned with the UK Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum, developed in partnership with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd).

You will develop a solid scientific foundation for safe, effective and evidence-based surgical practice, building the knowledge that underpins the Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) examinations. The programme is designed and taught by experienced surgeons and academics, and covers surgical principles, anatomy, pathology, perioperative care and evidence-based surgery, with a curriculum aligned to modern surgical training.

You will become part of an online community that brings together students and tutors from around the world. Teaching combines discussion forums, directed reading and live tutorials, and experienced clinical tutors will support you at every stage. You will also be assigned an Academic Cohort Lead and a Student Adviser, so there is always someone to turn to.

The semi-flexible learning environment lets you study at the times and in the places that suit you best, within set timeframes and deadlines. This makes the programme well suited to busy clinical professionals who want to strengthen and extend their knowledge while continuing to work.

RCSEd is one of the world's oldest surgical colleges, and the University of Edinburgh brings long experience in online surgical education. Together they connect trusted surgical knowledge with current academic and evidence-based practice.

Study options

The programme is studied part-time and online, and leads to one of three awards. Each award builds on the one before, so the PgCert forms Year 1, the PgDip adds Year 2, and the MSc adds Year 3.

QualificationDuration (part-time)Credits
Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert)1 year60
Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip)2 years120
Master of Science (MSc)3 years180

Credits measure the amount of study involved. At the University of Edinburgh, one credit represents around 10 hours of study, so a 20-credit course involves roughly 200 hours. Year 1 and Year 2 are each made up of three 20-credit courses, and the MSc year is a single 60-credit dissertation.

Programme rankings

The University of Edinburgh is ranked among the world's leading universities for medical subjects:

  • 22nd in the world for Medicine (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026)
  • 20th in the world for Medical and Health (Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2026)

Programme benefits

  • Prepare for the Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) examinations, or equivalent international qualifications, with a curriculum aligned to the UK Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum.
  • Build a solid scientific foundation for safe, evidence-based surgical practice, taught by practising surgeons and academics.
  • Study online around your clinical work, with semi-flexible deadlines that fit alongside a training post anywhere in the world.
  • Learn alongside a global community of early-career surgeons, drawing on clinical experience from different healthcare systems.
  • Develop your research skills with an independent dissertation, applying evidence-based medicine to a surgical topic you choose.

Graduating from the MSc in Surgical Sciences is an important milestone in my surgical career, and it helped me to pass my MRCS first time. I strongly recommend the course for young surgeons in training who wish to have a strong foundation in basic sciences.

Jin-Jiun Mah MSc Surgical Sciences (Online Learning) graduate

Tuition fees

Tuition fees by award and duration

Tuition fees for full-time and part-time options are listed for one academic year.

Part-time

Graduate discount

If you are a University of Edinburgh graduate, you will be eligible for a 10% discount on your tuition fees for this programme. You may also be eligible if you were a visiting undergraduate student.

Find out how to receive your graduate discount

Deposit

If you receive an offer of admission, this will be conditional as you will be asked to pay some of your tuition fees in advance as a deposit.

How and when to pay the deposit

  • £500 (this contributes towards your tuition fees)

Funding opportunities

Funding for postgraduate study is different to undergraduate study, and many students need to combine funding sources to pay for their studies.

Most students use a combination of the following funding to pay their tuition fees and living costs:

  • borrowing money
    • taking out a loan
    • family support
  • personal savings
  • income from work
  • employer sponsorship
  • scholarships

Explore sources of funding for postgraduate study

If you live in the UK, you may be eligible for a postgraduate loan for online study from one of the UK’s governments.

If you intend to apply for a UK government loan you should apply for the 3-year Masters option.

View details: UK government loans

Search for other funding opportunities

You can find scholarships, bursaries and other funding you might be eligible for on our Scholarships and Student Funding site.

Postgraduate funding opportunities

These entry requirements are for the 2027-28 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2028-29 academic year will be published in early Oct 2027.

Qualifications

An accredited medical degree (MBChB or equivalent).

You should not yet have achieved Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS or equivalent), before starting the programme. However, applicants who have already passed MRCS Part A but have yet to sit the MRCS Part B will be considered for admission.  

You must be in a supervised clinical environment for the duration of your studies, such as a Junior Doctor position, CT1, CT2, etc.

Your application should include information about your MRCS, any postgraduate titles achieved, any ongoing studies, your current clinical positions, and planned future clinical rotations.

If you apply for the MSc programme, you will still be able to exit the programme at an earlier stage with a PgCert or PgDip award if the award criteria are met. 

International equivalent qualifications

To find international equivalent qualifications, select where you studied from the country or region list.

English language requirements

You must prove that your English language abilities are at a high enough level to study this degree programme.

This is the case for all applicants, including UK nationals.

You can meet our English language requirements with one of the following:

  • an English language test (restrictions apply)
  • a degree that was taught and assessed in English (restrictions apply)
  • certain professional qualifications

English language tests we accept

We accept any of the following English language tests, at the specified grade or higher:

  • IELTS Academic: total 6.5 with at least 6.0 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
  • TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition) before 21 January 2026: total 92 with 23 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
  • TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition) from 21 January 2026: total 4.5 with at least 4.5 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
  • C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 176 with at least 169 in each component.
  • Oxford ELLT: total 7 with at least 6 in each component. We do not accept Oxford ELLT Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
  • Oxford Test of English Advanced: total 145 with at least 135 in each component.
How old your English language tests can be
Tests no more than two years old

The following English language tests must be no more than two years old on the 1st of the month in which your programme starts, regardless of your nationality:

  • IELTS Academic
  • TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition)
  • Oxford ELLT
  • Oxford Test of English Advanced
Tests no more than three and a half years old

All other English language tests must be no more than three and a half years old on the 1st of the month in which your programme starts, regardless of your nationality.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English-speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration.

UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English-speaking countries (non-MESC).

Approved universities in non-MESC

How old your degree can be

If you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old on the 1st of the month in which your programme starts.

This time limit does not apply to your degree if you are a national of a majority English-speaking country.

Find out more about our English language requirements

Find out about other English language qualifications we accept, including professional qualifications.

English language requirements

What you will study

The programme focuses on the applied basic sciences that underpin safe, effective surgery, always set in a clinical context. Its syllabus maps to the UK surgical training curriculum, covering the generic elements of the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme (ISCP) that shape the early years of surgical training, alongside the professional standards in the General Medical Council's Good Medical Practice. This is what makes it directly relevant to your training and strong preparation for the MRCS examinations.

The programme builds year on year:

  • Year 1 (PgCert) grounds you in the science behind the major surgical specialties, from the cardiorespiratory and gastrointestinal systems to locomotor, urology and ENT.
  • Year 2 (PgDip) turns to the management of surgical patients, covering surgical principles, communication and perioperative care, and academic surgery.
  • Year 3 (MSc) is an independent, supervised research project in which you apply evidence-based medicine to a surgical topic of your choice, drawing together your learning from the first two years.

You will study through real surgical cases throughout, and you are encouraged to draw on your own clinical experience wherever in the world you are working.

Compulsory courses

All six taught courses below are compulsory and worth 20 credits each. Year 1 leads to the PgCert, Year 2 to the PgDip, and the Year 3 dissertation completes the MSc.

Year 1 (PgCert)
  • Cardiorespiratory Science – You will study the key science of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, with particular relevance to vascular surgery.
  • General Surgery – Working through example surgical cases across the endocrine system, the breast and skin, and the gastrointestinal tract (upper GI, colorectal and transplant surgery), you will explore the applied basic sciences behind important clinical presentations, including cell biology, neoplasia, microbiology, immunology and haematology.
  • Locomotor, Urology and ENT/OMFS – You will cover locomotor systems, urology, and ENT/OMFS (ear, nose, throat, oral and maxillofacial surgery). Locomotor cases are set in the acute trauma setting, covering the principles and management of trauma and orthopaedic patients, alongside common urological and ENT/OMFS presentations relevant to surgery.
Year 2 (PgDip)
  • Principles of Surgical Management – You will study the key concepts behind managing surgical patients across the major surgical specialties.
  • Communication and Care – You will develop surgical and communication skills, preoperative assessment, and perioperative and critical care. The surgical skills block covers preparation for surgery, procedures and techniques; the communication block focuses on communicating effectively with colleagues and patients, including palliative patients; and you also cover perioperative monitoring, recovery and post-operative management.
  • Academic Surgery, Orthopaedics and Trauma – The academic surgery block builds the research skills you will need for the MSc year: clinical study design, statistics, and critical appraisal of the medical literature. The trauma and orthopaedics block uses case scenarios to guide how you investigate and optimise the management of common orthopaedic and trauma presentations.
Year 3 (MSc)
  • Dissertation – Your dissertation is an independent piece of clinical or laboratory research that you plan, carry out and develop with prior approval, typically a critical analysis of a surgical topic using evidence-based medicine. It consolidates your first two years and develops your ability to analyse published evidence and apply evidence-based medicine to surgical practice.

Together, the Year 1 and Year 2 courses map to the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum and build towards the MRCS examinations, while the academic surgery strand and the dissertation develop the evidence-based research skills that run through the whole programme.

Find courses for this programme

Find out what courses you can study on this programme and how each of them are taught and assessed.

The courses on offer may change from year to year, but the course information will give you an idea of what to expect on this programme.

Part-time

We link to the latest information available. This may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.

Teaching and assessment

Teaching

Teaching is delivered entirely online and is largely asynchronous, so you can study around your clinical commitments wherever you are based.

Years 1 and 2 follow the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum and build towards the MRCS examinations, with an emphasis on evidence-based practice and academic surgery. Each course combines:

  • clinical case studies
  • online discussions led by experienced tutors
  • directed reading
  • pre-recorded lectures
  • live sessions with clinical leads and academic course organisers, recorded so you can catch up later

In Year 3 (MSc) you complete an independent, supervised research project. You are supported by a clinical supervisor local to you and an academic supervisor from the programme team, and your Academic Cohort Lead guides you through research activities such as your project proposal, research presentation and final project report.

Assessment

Years 1 and 2 courses

Assessment is designed to build the knowledge and skills that matter in surgical practice: anatomy and pathophysiology, alongside clinical, communication, academic and critical skills. You will develop evidence-based academic writing through assignments set for each course, and some tasks let you draw on your own clinical experience wherever in the world you work. Several MCQ tests, each with feedback, and a guided approach to clinical case studies help prepare you for the MRCS.

Each 20-credit course in Years 1 and 2 is assessed through:

  • a written assessment (40 to 45% of the course mark)
  • three to five discussion boards (45 to 50%)
  • five to ten MCQ tests (10%)
Year 3

Year 3 is a single, year-long 60-credit dissertation, assessed through written coursework across the year that builds towards your final report:

  • brief project summary (10%)
  • detailed project proposal (20%)
  • poster presentation (20%)
  • final project report (50%)

Completing this course leads to the award of the MSc in Surgical Sciences.

Learning outcomes

The programme’s learning outcomes have been mapped onto the SCQF11 level characteristics, focusing on applying scientific and clinical principles to patient care, mastering effective communication, and demonstrating professional and ethical conduct.

Key skills include:

  • applying biomedical and clinical knowledge to diverse surgical settings, patients, presentations and procedures
  • communicating effectively
  • understanding and critically interpreting research
  • understanding research methodologies

Support for your studies

You will have access to a range of support services if you need them throughout your degree.

We will assign you to a student adviser, and this should be the first person to contact if you need help. They can guide you to other University service teams depending on what support you need.  

How we support you

Our academic staff

You will be taught and supported by a team of practising surgeons and academics from Edinburgh Medical School. The programme is led by Professor Stephen Wigmore, Professor of Clinical Surgery, as Programme Director, with Dr Valentina Ferlito, Lecturer and Deputy Programme Director, leading the teaching across all three years of the programme. You will also learn from a dedicated Teaching Fellow, and you will also be assigned an Academic Cohort Lead, who will be your first line of contact for for academic queries and matters.

Meet the MSc Surgical Sciences team

How online learning works

This degree programme is taught entirely online. There is no need to come to the city or University campus. 

All learning and teaching takes place within our virtual learning environment (VLE). Through the VLE, you can: 

  • access all your learning materials and study resources, including e-books and library resources
  • interact with your tutors and classmates 

An online degree from the University of Edinburgh is academically equivalent to an on-campus postgraduate degree and involves the same level of work overall. The qualification you get is of equal value. Your degree certificate will not mention that you studied the programme online.

Time commitment

This programme is studied part-time and online, and is designed to fit around your clinical work. You can study in your own time and reach all your learning resources, including reading lists, discussion forums and lecture slides, from anywhere in the world, within the course timetable and assignment deadlines.

Teaching is primarily asynchronous, so there are no sessions you must attend at a set time. Live online sessions are scheduled at points through the year, but each one is recorded and made available in the virtual learning environment, so you can join live or catch up later at a time that works for you and your time zone.

Across the Certificate, Diploma and MSc, you should expect to spend around 15 to 20 hours a week on your studies during the 30 teaching weeks of the academic year. This covers everything: online discussions, directed reading, pre-recorded lectures, independent study, and preparing and submitting your assessments. The exact hours vary with your prior experience of each subject and with the rhythm of assignment deadlines.

Equipment and software needs

To study this online programme, you will need access to:   

  • a computer or laptop  
  • the internet  
  • the latest version of a web browser  

As an online student, you will have access to a range of software you can download to help you complete your coursework, including Microsoft Office 365. 

IT support is available if you have technical difficulties.  

IT and computing help

Support for online students

Career opportunities

Most students on this programme are already qualified doctors in the early stages of their careers, typically Foundation Year (FY1/FY2) doctors or international equivalents, who are working towards a career in surgery. Rather than leading to a first job, the MSc strengthens the scientific and academic foundation you need to progress into and through surgical training, at the key transition between medical school and specialist practice.

Our students study from around the world, and graduates go on to work in hospitals and national health systems internationally, across both public and private healthcare.

Further study

After completing this programme, you may wish to consider applying for a PhD or other research programme.

Applying for research degrees

Moving on to a PhD (advice from the University's Careers Service)

Careers Service

Our Careers Service can help you to fully develop your potential and achieve your future goals. 

The Careers Service supports you not only while you are studying at the University, but also for up to two years after you finish your studies. 

With the Careers Service, you can: 

  • access digital resources to help you understand your skills and strengths
  • try different types of experiences and reflect on how and what you develop
  • get help finding work, including part-time jobs, vacation work, internships and graduate jobs
  • attend careers events and practice interviews
  • get information and advice to help you make informed decisions 

Visit the Careers Service website 

How to apply

You apply online for this programme. After you read the application guidance, select your preferred programme, then choose 'Start your application' to begin.

If you are considering applying to more than one programme, you should be aware that we cannot consider more than 5 applications from the same applicant.

When to apply

Programme start date Application deadline
13 September 2027 20 August 2027

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible so that we have enough time to process your application. This is particularly important if you are also applying for funding. Applications may close earlier than published deadlines if there is exceptionally high demand.

For an application to be reviewed, it must be a complete application by the application deadline with all supporting documentation uploaded, including references and transcripts.

If you already have evidence that you meet the English language entry requirements, such as via an approved English language test, please upload this evidence at the time of your application. If you have not already met your English language requirements, please upload that evidence as soon as you have it.

Application fee

There is no fee to apply to this programme.

What you need to apply

As part of your online application, you will need to provide: 

You will also need to submit some or all of the following supporting documents:

When you start your application, you will be able to see the full list of documents you need to provide.

Apply

Select the award, duration and delivery mode you want to study. Then select the start date you want to apply for.

After you apply

Once you have applied for this programme, you will be able to track the progress of your application and accept or decline any offers.

Checking the status of your application

We will notify you by email once we have made a decision. Due to the large number of applications we receive, it might take a while until you hear from us.

Receiving our decision

What to do if you receive an offer:

General enquiries

Edinburgh Medical School

Contact details

Address

The Chancellor's Building
49 Little France Crescent
Edinburgh
EH16 4SB

Academic contact

Dr Valentina Ferlito

Lecturer and Deputy Programme Director

  • Edinburgh Medical School

Contact details

Related degree programmes

You may also be interested in