Discounts: NHS and Alumni discounts available
Online course
PGCert Medical and Health Education
- Qualification: PGCert, CPD
- Duration: 12 months, part-time
- Workload: Approx 20 hours per week
- Next enrolment: PGCert: Sept 2025
- Fees: £5000 (PGCert), £1,667 (CPD)
Introduction
Empower future healthcare leaders
The health landscape is changing. With our population living longer and demands on healthcare increasing, we need world-class educators to teach the practitioners of tomorrow.
Our Postgraduate Certification (PGCert) in Medical and Health Education was created in collaboration with the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE). Through focusing your professional development on teaching, you will play a crucial role in educating the essential workers of the future.
Key features
Global and multidisciplinary
Enrich your learning by working alongside international peers from diverse disciplines and building a global community of practice.
Benefit from targeted teaching
The content of our course units is directly related to clinical and healthcare teaching and assessment, with a focus on real-life scenarios and topical issues.
Collaborative design
This course has been designed in collaboration with an expert team of academics and clinicians from the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE).
Hear from one of our academics
I am a doctor and Professor of Health Professional Education and Development at the University of Manchester and Unit Lead of the PGCert MHE. I have been involved with the design of the course since inception, when we purposely decided to have a multi-professional and multi-cultural approach, in order that everyone on the course, and those faculty delivering it, have curiosity about the experiences and context of others.
Dr Jessica Grundy
Professor of Health Professional Education
Designed with the RCPE and accredited by the Academy of Medical Educators
Benefits of our collaborative approach
- Expert insight from RCPE medical professionals underpins the course.
- The latest in theory and practical approaches to education geared towards challenges in healthcare.
- Once you have completed our PGCert, apply for full AoME membership and bypass the full application and assessment process.
Key information
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Delivery
Online course developed to fit around your lifestyle and circumstances.
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Duration
12 months, part-time
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Enrolment dates
September 2025
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How to apply
For more information on how to apply and what documents to submit with your application, please visit our application and selection section
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Workload
Approx 20 hours per week
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Course director
Dianne Burns
Fees and funding
Total course tuition fees for Sept '25 are:
- UK/EU students and International students: £5,000
- Individual CPD units: £1,667 each
We offer payment by instalments , so you can spread the cost of studying with us.
Explore a range of scholarships and bursaries available for this course below.
Entry requirements
Non-standard applicants may be considered at the discretion of the course director.
You'll also need to meet the required standard of English.
Alexandra's Story
The course definitely boosted my confidence in teaching. Before, I was teaching more ad hoc without fully understanding the evidence behind certain techniques. Now, I feel like I can apply those techniques more actively and with more awareness of how they impact learners.
Dr Alexandra Ward
Junior Clinical Fellow
Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust
Request information
Course overview
Who this course is for
"The course is aimed at anyone with an interest in teaching and learning, whether looking to transform their own teaching practice or consolidate and share what they already know." – Dianne Burns, Course Director PGCert Medical and Health Education
This course is suitable for all experienced clinicians and health care scientists, including medical doctors, dentists, nurses and all other allied health professionals involved in teaching, learning or assessment in the workplace, whether formal or informal. Non-standard applicants who have significant relevant professional experience may be considered on an individual basis by the Course Director.
What you will learn
- Apply evidence and theoretical principles to your individual teaching practice.
- Work with peers across disciplines to compare experiences and evaluate how different approaches can enhance learning.
- Reflect on your practice, and what is needed to effectively contribute to teaching and learning in various settings.
- Consider the influence of meaningful assessment on learning.
Where and when you will study
Our flexible Postgraduate Certificate is delivered exclusively online to enhance your practice and broaden your professional expertise while you work.
Through extensive online materials, as well as opportunities for peer discussion and tutorials from our world-class experts, we’ll support you to deliver transformative and future-focused teaching and learning in your discipline.
How it will benefit your career
- Develop the professional confidence and the recognition to effectively facilitate teaching and learning within a variety of settings.
- Studying alongside peers from varied backgrounds, widening your knowledge and building a multidisciplinary community of practice.
- Broaden your role and apply your educational know-how in the workplace through this recognised postgraduate qualification that reflects core teaching competencies set out by relevant professional bodies.
Course units
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The Reflective Educator (Begins in September)
- Study the theory that underpins effective practice in teaching, learning, assessment and evaluation.
- Analyse your role as an educator and reflect on developments in your discipline.
- Develop innovative approaches to learning opportunities, curriculum and learning tools.
Overview
You will be introduced to current theoretical frameworks which are used to underpin effective practice in teaching, learning, assessment and evaluation. In this unit, you will:
- Critically appraise a range of teaching and learning processes that can be used to create an environment conducive to learning.
- Explore current principles and practices related to session design, delivery and evaluation.
- Reflect upon the knowledge and skills needed to enable you to contribute effectively to teaching and learning in a variety of settings.
- Consider the importance of equality and diversity for effective teaching, and the effective evaluation of learning.
- Recognise that your own practice should be informed by broader higher education principles, as well as developments in your discipline area.
Aims
This unit aims to:
- Enable you to examine the underpinning theories and principles involved in developing educational learning opportunities, educational curricula and/or educational learning tools.
- Introduce you to theoretical frameworks underpinning effective practice in teaching, learning, assessment and evaluation, encouraging you to critically reflect on developments in your own discipline area.
- Empower you to analyse your own role as a teacher and assessor of students; by developing innovative approaches to developing educational learning opportunities, educational curricula and/or educational learning tool.
Knowledge and understanding
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Critically evaluate a variety of adult learning theories to create and sustain effective learning environments in a variety of settings.
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the reflective process and the extent to which this impacts upon the personal and academic development of self and others as educators.
- Explore the broader social context in which adult learning takes place and the centrality of valuing diversity and equality in teaching, recognising the potential impact of these factors on learners and healthcare.
Intellectual skills
- Consider your own identity as an educator as you embark upon the reflective process to improve your own teaching practice.
- Critically appraise approaches to teaching and learning as witnessed within your own professional context.
- Reflect on the learning opportunities available to your learners and begin to critique with reference to the teaching and learning literature.
Practical skills
- Contribute to an inter-disciplinary community of teaching practice to facilitate the exchange of educational ideas.
Transferrable skills and personal qualities
- Develop effective, facilitative communication and relationships as educators to support learners to reach their full potential.
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The Art and Science of Teaching (Begins in November)
- Explore curriculum in terms of interprofessional education, leadership, mentoring and professionalism.
- Present the principles of curriculum design and course development.
- Introduce a range of teaching and learning methods for critical appraisal.
- Facilitate the selection of appropriate teaching and assessment methods aligned to curriculum to enhance learning.
- Demonstrate a personal teaching style and consider the factors which can influence teaching and learning, from both a learner and educator perspective.
Overview
In this unit, we will begin to apply the evidence base and theoretical principles to your individual teaching practice. You will:
- Explore the literature and compare experiences with peers to evaluate how different approaches and methods of teaching can be used to enhance learning.
- Further explore the importance of intelligent design, based on sound theoretical rationale in developing a curriculum.
- Investigate the teaching strategies and methodologies appropriate to specific educational settings as we underline the importance of curriculum design and review.
- Consider how interprofessional education can be incorporated effectively in the curriculum.
- Explore how to incorporate mentoring and support of our learners into the curriculum.
Aims
This unit aims to:
- Present the principles of curriculum design and course development.
- Introduce a range of teaching and learning methods for critical appraisal.
- Facilitate the selection of appropriate teaching and assessment methods aligned to curriculum to enhance learning.
- Explore curriculum in terms of interprofessional education, leadership, mentoring and professionalism.
Knowledge and understanding
Once you complete this unit, you should be able to:
- Analyse the various components of a curriculum, including educational philosophy/strategy, rationale, content, organisation, implementation, assessment and evaluation.
- Critically appraise a range of teaching and learning methods to ensure inclusivity.
- Ensure the constructive alignment of teaching methods with intended learning outcomes.
- Critically explore the issues around embedding inter-professional education, supervision, mentoring and professionalism into curriculum design.
- Identify the requirements of key stakeholders and review your practice to ensure standards and quality assurance are maintained.
Intellectual skills
- Critically evaluate the teaching and learning literature, specifically regarding curriculum design and review.
- Subject your current practices of teaching to critical evaluation.
Practical skills
- Plan, design and deliver teaching to enable learning and progression.
- Apply the elements of successful mentoring and supervision to further your own practice as a reflective educator.
Transferable skills and personal qualities
- Teach effectively in a variety of contexts.
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Pass or Fail, Who Decides? (Begins in February)
- Explore current assessment practices within the context of your discipline
- Consider how assessment fits into the broader remit of evaluation and quality assurance
- Understand the impact and value of feedback
Overview
This course considers ways in which meaningful assessment has a strong influence on learning. In this unit, you will:
- Explore current methods and directions in assessment of learning in higher education generally and in medical and healthcare education.
- Consider both formative and summative assessment.
- Explore assessment theory, particularly in relation to concepts of validity, reliability, transparency, professional accountability, and generalisability.
- Best practice in supporting learners who are struggling or failing to progress.
- Adopt a critical approach to developing, delivering and evaluating assessment, evaluation and feedback strategies.
Aims
The unit aims to:
- Explore assessment of learners’ work within the context of higher education and beyond.
- Facilitate student evaluation of a range of relevant literature on assessment in their relevant disciplines.
- Invite the exploration of current assessment practices in the context of student’s activity and their own practice discipline.
- Explore how assessment fits into the broader remit of evaluation and quality assurance.
- Emphasise the impact and value of giving feedback.
Knowledge and understanding
Upon completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Critically evaluate the contemporary theories and principles of assessment, evaluation and feedback.
- Articulate a coherent argument regarding the impact and value of providing high quality feedback to learners.
- Critically appraise the factors that influence assessment of clinical competency to ensure standards are maintained for quality assurance purposes.
- Ensure constructive alignment of assessment methods with intended learning outcomes.
Intellectual skills
- Subject your current assignment assessment practice to critical evaluation through the process of reflection.
- Critically appraise existing assessment and feedback mechanisms to enable progression.
Practical skills
- Make informed evidence-based judgements on appropriate assessment and feedback practices.
Transferrable skills and personal qualities
- Demonstrate awareness of the wider context of skills and experience in assessment and feedback.
Course structure
Our course is aimed at those who want to further develop their teaching skills through a course with a strong emphasis on professional practice. Interprofessional learning is central to the ethos of the course and provides the added value of learning alongside colleagues from other disciplines. You will benefit from the wisdom and experience of your peers, as well as the expertise offered by healthcare teaching professionals. This course is designed to be completed alongside work commitments.
There are three units in this PGCert in Medical and Health Education. You'll start your learning with 'The Reflective Educator', then in November with 'The Art and Science of Teaching' and finally, 'Pass or Fail, Who Decides?'
Course units may be taken as standalone 20-credit CPD units or taken together to make up a PGCert qualification. To learn more about taking individual CPD units, please contact our Course Advisor.
Course learning aims
This course is suitable for all experienced clinicians, including medical doctors, dentists, nurses and all other allied health professionals involved in teaching, learning or assessment in the workplace, whether formal or informal.
You'll build the professional confidence and the recognition to effectively facilitate teaching and learning within a variety of settings.
As a recognised postgraduate qualification, this PGCert reflects the teaching competencies set out by relevant professional bodies, giving you a unique opportunity to broaden your role and apply your educational know-how in the workplace.
Teaching and learning
This course is 100% online and delivered flexibly to suit your lifestyle,specifically designed to help you learn alongside your career.
Our teaching and learning methods include videos, webinars and other online learning exercises. These provide insights into key concepts and guide you towards where to focus directed study.
Through discussion boards and tutorials, you'll take part in guided discussions around issues related to teaching practice. This will establish the links between theory and practice, helping you to create practical strategies to deal with these real-world problems.
'Drop in' tutorial sessions will provide you with opportunities to discuss your personal goals and progress. Reflective activities will allow you to consider your own skill and project development.
You will be assigned a Study Advisor who will be with you throughout your studies with us. Your Study Advisor will be your first point of contact - by phone or email - for any queries that aren't directly related to course content. You'll take an active role in your learning, committing to approximately 20 hours per week.
Please review the technical requirements to prepare for a successful learning journey with us.
Academic teaching start dates:
September 2025 entry - 1 September 2025
The welcome event and induction take place one week before the academic teaching start date. Our admissions team will confirm your induction date closer to the time.Please ensure that you complete your registration ahead of your chosen entry date to gain access to the online learning material and library services.
Coursework and assessment
Each unit on this PGCert in Medical and Health Education is assessed through a number of methods including presentations, papers and other coursework, both individually and in groups.
Coursework and assessments are tailed to the specific learning objectives of each unit. These allow you to demonstrate your progress, showing your ability to gather and critically analyse relevant information to form logical, coherent arguments.
Each 20-credit unit lasts 11 weeks. For the first eight, each week will be split like this:
Online learning - 10 hours
Tutor and peer-led discussion - 1 hour
Live and recorded tutorials - 1 hour
Independent reading and study - 5 hours
The final two weeks of each unit are dedicated to assignment preparation and submission. Your time will be divided as follows:
Live and recorded tutorials - 1 hour
Independent reading and study - 20 hours
Throughout the course, you will be able to take online quizzes and self-assessment tests to gauge your progress and potential areas for improvement.
Admissions information
From your initial expression of interest right through to graduation, you’ll receive all the support you need. We can support you with enrolment and subject assistance, administrative logistics and fee options, online learning skills, workload management and special circumstances including a possible professional entry route.
Entry requirements
Academic entry qualification overview
- a primary medical degree or other registered health care/social work professional qualification
- an Upper Second class degree (2.1) or overseas equivalent in a subject allied to medical or health education, such as biosciences, psychology or physician associate studies.
Non-standard applicants for the course from other experienced healthcare professionals/educators who have relevant professional experience and/or where the academic qualification falls below an Upper Second class degree will be considered on an individual basis, and may be admitted, at the discretion of the Course Director.
English language
Specifically, we require a minimum of:
- IELTS : 6.5 overall (and a minimum of 6 for writing) or equivalent. Discover more about English language requirements
English language test validity
Application and selection
How to apply
The deadline dates for application are:
Sept 25 PGCert: 18 Aug 25
Nov 25 CPD: 3 Nov 25
Feb 26 CPD: 9 Feb 26
To begin the application process please click here
Your application can only be considered when the application form is complete and your supporting documentation has been received.
- Application form
- Degree certificate and transcripts/Professional qualification documents (with an official English translation if the original is not in English)
- English language score report (if applicable) or alternative evidence to demonstrate your English language competency
- A copy of your CV
- A personal statement (maximum 500 words)
- If we need any additional information or documents, our Admissions team ( worldwideapplications@manchester.ac.uk ) will contact you directly
For support and advice, please contactus at studyonline@manchester.ac.uk
Advice to applicants
Fees and funding
Total course tuition fees in Sept '25 are:
- UK/EU students and International students: £5,000
- Individual CPD units: £1,667 each
Please note the tuition fees are subject to an incremental rise in September.
Tuition fee discounts
- Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount (10%)*: Available for courses starting between September 2025 and August 2026. If you've finished your undergraduate degree at The University of Manchester (or one of its predecessors like The Victoria University of Manchester or UMIST), or a degree we've licensed or validated, you can receive a 10% discount on the tuition fees.
- Corporate discount (up to 10%): If 5-9 fellows are sent from the same trust: 5% discount, if 10-14 fellows are sent from the same trust: 7% discount, if 15+ fellows are sent from the same trust: 10% discount
- NHS employee discount (10%): To receive an NHS discount on your tuition fees you must fit our eligibility criteria and provide evidence to support your discount claim. To process your discount claim, our admissions team must receive a letter from your employer, detailing your employment and contract type. This letter must be sent from a workplace email on official headed paper to verify your employment status. To qualify for the discount you must be employed at the start of the course and evidence must be provided before a discount is granted.
*Discount policy: Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount can be combined with the NHS employee discount. The NHS employee discount and the Corporate discount can be combined.
Employer funding
If you are looking to secure funding from your employer, we can help you build a business case or talk to your employer directly. Contact us on studyonline@manchester.ac.uk to arrange a consultation.
Payment by instalments
During registration you will have the opportunity to pay your fees in three equal instalments. Learn more.
If you're an English or EU student living in the UK, you may be eligible for a loan.
Funding for students with disabilities
If you have a disability, we can help you apply for relevant funding.
Additional cost information
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Regulated by the Office for Students
The University of Manchester is regulated by the Office for Students (OfS). The OfS aims to help students succeed in Higher Education by ensuring they receive excellent information and guidance, get high quality education that prepares them for the future and by protecting their interests. More information can be found at the OfS website.
You can find regulations and policies relating to student life at The University of Manchester, including our Degree Regulations and Complaints Procedure, on our regulations website.