The Edinburgh Three-Year Course and M.Phil Degree

Extract

The introduction of the College's Membership Examination in 1971 created a dilemma for the university departments which had previously provided postgraduate teaching for a Diploma in Psychological Medicine. For it was clear that the MRCPsych would soon become a mandatory qualification for anyone wishing to pursue a psychiatric career, at least in this country, and that consequently there would no longer be a useful role for these diplomas. The universities concerned therefore had to choose between letting their diplomas die, or converting them into something other than a basic clinical qualification. The University of Edinburgh, like the Institute of Psychiatry and one or two other departments, decided to replace its DPM with a master's degree (M.Phil) in psychiatry which would be primarily an academic and research qualification, complementing rather than rivalling the College Membership.