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Paramedic Practice
Bringing paramedic undergraduate education to Grampian and the Highlands & Islands
When we fill demand with opportunity and help students to study closer to home, we support their professional ambitions and give them the skills to improve the communities in which they live.
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We’ve been successful in our bid to bring paramedic undergraduate education to the Highlands & Islands and Grampian, boosting the capacity for training new paramedics in Scotland and enhancing patient care for many communities in the future.
The course is being developed to provide a new regional approach to education and training for the profession and addresses the increased learning requirement for registering as a paramedic through the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC).
The new BSc Paramedic Practice at RGU will be delivered from September 2020. By extending the reach, not just of our own courses but for the training of an entire profession, we provide more localised educational opportunities for students to learn highly specialised skills and knowledge.
Professor Ian Murray, Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at RGU, said: “This is a welcome addition to our course portfolio and fits well with the wide range of nursing, midwifery and allied health professions courses at RGU and our commitment to interprofessional learning.
“We’ll be working in partnership with the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) and other Scottish universities, to develop the new course and train the future paramedics of Scotland. The two contracts awarded will involve a minimum of 40 students per year and will significantly increase the reach of our demand-led teaching.”
Currently, all students in Scotland study paramedic science/practice at the Scottish Ambulance Academy (SAA) in Glasgow Caledonian University with entry to the HCPC register at diploma level. As paramedic education moves to a regional approach to increase training opportunities, students will need to achieve a Bachelor’s degree to become a registered paramedic.
We have a long track record for delivering industry-leading healthcare education at RGU, as evidenced in the Guardian University Guide 2020 where it ranks top in the UK for health profession course satisfaction. The university is well placed to train the next generation of paramedics and beyond with the skills and knowledge to treat more patients with complex needs both in and out of the hospital environment.
Four other providers successfully bid to bring paramedic undergraduate education to their institutions, but RGU was the only university to successfully win contracts for two regions: Grampian and the Highland & Islands.
