UPEI medical school opening delayed until 2025

CHARLOTTETOWN — UPEI has delayed the opening of its new medical school until 2025.

UPEI interim president Dr. Greg Keefe announced on Thursday, Feb. 16, that the first intake of students to its medical program has been postponed to August 2025.

The original plan for the joint medical degree program with Memorial University was to admit students a year earlier.

"To meet accreditation timelines, we needed to guarantee by the end of this month that the on-campus facility would be complete by summer of 2024," Keefe said. "With the late start to the construction process, coupled with challenges related to winter construction in our environment, we are unable to do this. We are, therefore, moving the admission date for the first group of students to 2025."

The university said the change will also allow UPEI and Health P.E.I. more flexibility to assess and respond to the results of the study of P.E.I.'s health system capacity to add medical learners.

"This was welcomed news and I support UPEI's decision to delay the first intake of students into the medical school," said Dr. Michael Gardam, CEO of Health P.E.I. "Adding a medical school to P.E.I. is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the province and something that cannot be rushed."

With this new timeline, residency programs will not be needed until 2029. However, the new program will support capacity building in the meantime.

Accreditation of medical faculties needs approval through the committee on accreditation of Canadian medical schools.

In the Maritimes, universities also need quality assurance approval through the Atlantic advisory committee on health human resources and Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission.

The program will initially start under Memorial's accreditation and expand to a fully joint program.