When I appeared before the Committee on 7 December I was asked about the importance of the intercalated degrees for medical students as a platform from which to recruit future clinical academics[8].I promise to write on this issue.

  I understand that most medical schools offer students the opportunity to take an extra year in the middle of the course to study for an intercalated honours degree. Medical schools' policies on intercalation vary: in some schools intercalation is compulsory; some schools actively encourage intercalation; some others limit the number of students who are allowed to intercalate.

  At last October's symposium on careers in clinical academic medicine it was suggested that there was a need to identify and nurture potential future clinical academics at an early stage including during the undergraduate course. The symposium noted that intercalated degrees and the new accelerated courses for graduate entrants had an important part to play in this process. The Council of Heads of Medical Schools will be giving this matter further consideration as part of the follow up on the symposium.

17 January 2000