The Scottish Academic Foundation Year Programme: what, why and how?

The Foundation Programme is well established in the UK and serves as the generic training scheme into which newly qualified doctors enter after gaining a medical degree. Although individual programmes have many differences, the range of competencies needing to be fulfilled to progress is uniform across Scotland and the rest of the UK. Some final year medical undergraduates may apply for the Academic Foundation Programme; this is designed to facilitate exposure to academic medicine over and above the clinical experience offered to Foundation Year doctors. This paper describes characteristics of the Academic Foundation Programme in general, with a particular focus on Scotland, which is one Foundation School.