Doctor of Medicine and Surgery

About the course

A five-year, 300 ECTS full-time medical degree at the University of Malta, where teaching and communication are in English. Non-Maltese students must also get a Medical Maltese certificate.

Entry requirements for Irish students

• Six Higher Level passes: H1 in Biology and H1 in Chemistry, plus four passes at H2 or better. The two H1s and one of the H2s must come from the same sitting. You must also meet the university’s general rules for the Leaving Certificate, which include Higher Level passes in a language, a science and a humanistic subject.
• Applicants presenting the Irish Leaving Certificate must sit the university’s Entrance Examination for Admission to Year 1 of the MD course. We could not find the exam content or date on the university’s pages.
• English: the university accepts an Ordinary Level pass at O4 or better in Leaving Certificate English, or a Secure English Language Test. Applicants without a SEC pass in Maltese must hold the University of Malta’s Medical Maltese Proficiency Certificate before the course starts.

Working in Ireland afterwards

Because your medical degree comes from an EU/EEA country, the Medical Council of Ireland can recognise it automatically under EU Directive 2005/36/EC, as long as it is listed in Annex V (point 5.1.1). If that listing says the degree must come with an internship or state-exam certificate from your home country, you need to have that too, and you must also show your current professional standing and meet the English-language requirements. Graduates of EU/EEA medical schools may apply to the HSE for Irish intern posts, but only if their home-country degree does not already count as complete training. In older HSE intern guides (e.g., the 2022 guide), only graduates from medical schools in Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Iceland and Slovenia could apply. Graduates from other EEA countries (and Italians holding the ‘abilitante’ degree) were told they are not eligible, because they qualify directly for General registration. Applicants who need no work permit were matched before those who do. Please check the current eligibility list in the HSE intern guide for the year you apply. We could not confirm it for the July 2027 intake because the current HSE guide pages are password-protected.

How to apply

1. Check your predicted gradesYou need H1 in Biology and Chemistry plus four H2s. The two H1s and one H2 must come from the same sitting.
2. Apply early onlineApply through um.edu.mt/apply. The 2026 deadline for overseas qualifications was 30 January 2026, so plan to apply by late January 2027 and check the 2027 date.
3. Sit the entrance examLeaving Certificate applicants must sit the MD Year 1 entrance examination. Ask the university for the date and content.
4. Medical Maltese and health checkGet the Medical Maltese Proficiency Certificate before the course starts. You will also have an occupational health assessment in first year.

Costs

• The course page shows a fee of EUR 26,000 a year for non-EU students. We could not find the fee for EU/EEA students on the course page. The university’s Fees Regulations (amended to 2015) set no tuition fee for EU/EEA students on full-time undergraduate day courses, but we could not find a current page confirming this for the MD. Contact the university to confirm what an Irish (EU) student pays before relying on any figure.

At a glance