About the Rural Clinical School

Established in 2002, our Rural Clinical School works to foster and sustain a skilled and dynamic medical workforce to meet the needs of rural, regional and remote Queensland. UQRCS is the largest rural clinical school in Australia hosted by a single university.

We provide students with rigorous clinical training built upon hands-on experiences in hospitals and community-based practices. Above all, we give our students the unique opportunity to live and work in some of Queensland’s amazing rural, regional and remote locations.

Our classrooms are the public and private hospitals, specialist consulting rooms, general practices and community healthcare settings throughout rural Queensland. Our teachers are dedicated and passionate rural clinicians. Our students have the opportunity to learn in a range of clinical contexts across the public, private and community sectors.

Why go rural?

All UQ medicine domestic students will experience the challenges and rewards of living and working in a rural area. Some may choose to go further and stay longer, but all have the opportunity to go rural.

Students in the clinical phase of the medical program live and work at one of the main academic sites for one to two years. Shorter residential placement opportunities of at least six weeks are available to all medical students through an extensive training network of rural and remote sites.

UQRCS provides a range of accommodation options for students, including our own residences, hospital staff accommodation or rental subsidies for couples and families.

UQRCS makes a positive impact on the medical workforce of rural Queensland

• We encourage and support students from rural backgrounds to pursue careers in medicine. More than a quarter of our students come from rural backgrounds.
• We encourage and support medical students to pursue careers in rural health. More than a quarter of our students will spend a year or more at a UQRCS site and our graduates are more than twice as likely to work in rural areas.
• We deliver unique benefits to both our students and rural communities.
• We provide our students with a clinical training experience like no other.
• We provide rural Queensland with a capable workforce and ongoing opportunities for professional development.