Leicester University currently caters for around 850 but it will be the first time that
Warwick has actually run a medical degree.
A university spokesman said:
"We have always done a lot of medical research at Warwick but we have never run an
undergraduates’ course before so this announcement is great news.
"We will be constructing several million pounds worth of new buildings on our
Gibbet Hill Road site which will be funded by the government as part of the scheme.
"It will be open for the in October 2000, we have wanted this for 25 years so we
are certainly not going to hang around now."
The news comes as a big boost to the area’s healthcare with the Coventry hospital
debate rumbling on, as many newly qualified doctors take up posts close to where they are
educated.
The announcement is part of a programme that saw the allocation of 684 new medical
places across the country, of which Warwick and Leicester received more than any other
bid.
The NHS has been quick to give it’s backing to the scheme which should give a
great boost to Warwick University as a whole.
A spokesman said:
"The portfolio of Warwick will be hugely boosted by the news.
"Believe it or not we have already had hundreds of people calling up wanting to
know about securing places on the course, so it has given us a great boost."
Professor Brian Follett, Vice Chancellor of the University of Warwick echoed this
delight at the announcement.
He said:
"This is terrific news creating, almost overnight, an internationally sized and
ranked medical school which will directly benefit the people of Coventry, Warwickshire and
Leicestershire.
"It has been our aim for 25 years to bring a medical school to Warwick."
