What Is BSMS (Brighton and Sussex Medical School) and What Does Its Website Cover?

Updated

BSMS stands for Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and bsms.ac.uk is its official website. The site is aimed at prospective and current medical students, postgraduate applicants, researchers, and alumni, and it brings together admissions information, course details, research areas, and school news in one place. Use it when you want to check entry requirements, compare course routes, or find out what research the school is involved in.

Who the site is for

The navigation reflects several distinct audiences:

  • Aspiring medics, schools, parents and carers – there is a dedicated section on widening participation to medicine, plus outreach activities for schools and colleges.
  • Undergraduate applicants – course structure, entry requirements, admissions process, fees and funding, open days, and a prospectus.
  • Postgraduate applicants – taught degrees, research degrees, continuing professional development (CPD), and single modules.
  • Researchers – research areas, PhD opportunities, and clinical academic training.
  • Alumni and staff – alumni pages, staff profiles, vacancies, and internal information such as technology enhanced learning and the anatomy facility.

What the website covers

Undergraduate study

The undergraduate section explains why BSMS presents itself as distinctive: innovative teaching and learning, early clinical experience, GP practice, anatomy and imaging, a supportive environment, and research-integrated teaching. It also sets out the course structure, intercalated degrees, assessments, and term dates. For applicants, the key pages are entry requirements (including international entry requirements), the admissions process, fees and funding, and open days (including a virtual open day).

Postgraduate study

The postgraduate taught portfolio listed on the site includes:

  • Ageing and Dementia
  • Clinical Education
  • Dental Implant Reconstructive Surgery
  • Diabetes in Primary Care
  • Global Health
  • Healthcare Leadership and Commissioning
  • Medical Education
  • Medical Research
  • Nuclear Medicine
  • Paediatrics and Child Health
  • Public Health
  • Simulation in Clinical Practice
  • Sustainable Healthcare

There are also single modules, CPD options, short courses and workshops, and bespoke training and commissions. Fees, funding, and application details sit alongside these listings.

Research

Research is organised into broad areas such as clinical and experimental medicine, ageing and frailty, cancer, inflammatory disease and immunity, paediatrics, personalised medicine and RNA biology, theoretical and empirical bioethics, and global health and infection. Named units and centres include the NIHR Global Health Research Unit for NTDs, the Centre for Equitable Global Health Research, the Centre of Infection and Antimicrobial Research, the Centre for Dementia Studies, and work on Time for Autism and Time for Dementia. Medical education and technology enhanced learning are also treated as research areas.

News, events and contact

The site carries news, events, a library, contacts, and information about visiting, plus partner organisations and honorary status arrangements.

How to use it

  1. Identify your route first – undergraduate, postgraduate taught, research degree, or CPD. The top-level navigation splits these clearly, so starting there avoids dead ends.
  2. For applications, work through the sequence – entry requirements, then admissions process, then fees and funding, then open days. International applicants should switch to the international entry requirements page rather than relying on the home-fee version.
  3. For research interest, go via research areas – each area page sits under the Research section, and PhD opportunities and clinical academic training are listed separately.
  4. Verify time-sensitive details on the page itself – term dates, fees, and open day schedules are the kind of information that changes by cycle, so check the specific page rather than a summary.

A practical example: if you are a school teacher planning outreach, the widening participation and outreach pages tell you what activities exist for schools and colleges; if you are a graduate comparing taught master's options, the postgraduate taught list lets you scan subject areas before opening fees and funding.

What to keep in mind

The site is an institutional information source, not an application portal summary — it describes programmes and processes but does not publish pricing signals or payment details in the material reviewed here. Treat any cost, deadline, or eligibility question as something to confirm on the relevant BSMS page or with admissions directly, since those details are set per intake and per programme.