Visiting Clinical Electives

Together with our affiliated hospitals, we offer a limited number of clinical electives and research electives to visiting students registered at medical schools who are participating in the Universitas 21 Clinical Placement Programme, or institutions with a formal affiliation agreement.

The Visiting Clinical Elective Programme provides a wide range of clinical experiences in our teaching hospitals for a 4 week period.

The School offers limited places of summer research electives through our Student Summer Research Awards (SSRA) programme. Currently preference is given to medical schools who have a formal affiliation agreement with the UCD School of Medicine.

Please check with your home institution to see whether UCD is a partner institution.

If your home institution is interested in setting up an elective exchange program with UCD please contact international.medicine@ucd.ie.

Eligibility Criteria

  1. Students must be attending an accredited medical school who are participating in the Universitas 21 Clinical Placement Programme, or with a formal affiliation agreement with UCD School of Medicine.
  2. Students must be in their final year of medical school at the time the elective(s) take place.
  3. Applicants who have successfully completed their penultimate year of medical education ARE eligible during their semester break/vacation between their penultimate and final year, if they have completed the applicable core rotation(s).
  4. By the time of the requested Elective, an applicant must have successfully completed a core rotation in the specialty/discipline(s) for which he/she is applying or is confirmed into.
  5. Please note that places are limited and it may take several weeks to confirm your placement. The School reserves the right to withdraw any offer to you, pending medical / immigration criteria.

Compulsory Requirements

Before an elective is confirmed, the School of Medicine International Office requires that all incoming International students provides proof of the following:

  • Letter of Good Standing from Home Institution
  • Medical Malpractice Insurance verification
  • Personal Insurance Verification
  • Police Certificate
  • Certification of English Language proficiency (if not from English speaking country)
  • Vaccinations as per UCD Medicine requirements
  • Letter of Recommendation
  • Transcripts

Applications

Applications are now closed for this current academic year. Applications for July and August 2025 will open in October 2024. Applications before then will not be considered. Please email visitingmedicine@ucd.ie from October 2024.

If you are from an affiliated institution, or part of the U21 Health Sciences Group Medical Placements Programme and wish to apply for a clinical elective for 2024, please include your home Institution in the email subject line.
 
Unfortunately due to capacity restraints, we cannot host students who are not from an affiliated institution, or part of the U21 Health Sciences Group Medical Placements Programme.