UNSTRUCTURED On 30th November 2020, United Kingdom’s Foundation Programme Office’s announced their decision to reform the points-based Foundation Programme Application System, by removing Educational Achievement point scores. The Foundation Programme Application System aids in the transition of graduating medical students into Foundation Programme rotations as newly qualified doctors. United Kingdom’s Foundation Programme Office revealed that their decisions were in accordance to that: a vast majority of applicants gain Educational Achievement point scores hence it is no longer a differentiating factor between candidates, as well as that Educational Achievement point scores favour students from more advantaged backgrounds. Whilst we recognise the validity of these points raised, we as current UK-based, medical students, share our concerns that removing Educational Achievement point scores will undoubtedly hinder the long-term progression of medicine as well as removing valuable transferrable skills gained through undertaking Educational Achievement point scores.

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The UK Foundation Programme Office has announced that medical students graduating from 2023 onward will not receive Foundation Programme Application System points for additional degrees or journal publications. In this viewpoint paper, we acknowledge the reasons for this decision, such as socioeconomically advantaged students having greater access to these achievements and the promotion of intercalated degrees for the sake of point accumulation. Additionally, the predictive value of these achievements with regard to junior doctors’ performance has been questioned when compared to that of other Foundation Programme Application System components. Conversely, we also highlight the drawbacks of the UK Foundation Programme Office’s decision, since this might discourage medical students from completing additional degrees and attempting to publish their work, thereby resulting in clinicians with little to no academic experience or interest. Finally, we attempt to provide suggestions for future improvements in this system by analyzing different medical schools’ approaches, such as the BMedSci Honors program offered at Nottingham University. Furthermore, promoting and supporting engagement with academia, especially among socioeconomically disadvantaged students, are the responsibility of all medical schools; such actions are needed in order to produce doctors who are both clinically and academically competent. We conclude that the aforementioned changes should only affect new cohorts in the interest of universities’ transparency and fairness to their students.