- a team of lecturers from different disciplines takes a sectoral approach to the teaching of pathology. This ensures a multidisciplinary approach based on clinical work.

- close connection between theoretical and clinical courses and placements enables theoretical teaching to be set in its wider context :  this means that certain concepts take on a different meaning once they have been encountered during the placements.

- the wide range of teaching methods are selected on the basis of the skills they are designed to develop. For example,  ‘relationship training’ is carried out through interactive seminars ; training in ‘social and ethical issues in health and medicine’ is undertaken successively through lectures and seminars in small groups where the experience from the placements is reviewed ; developing clinical reasoning skills is done in active learning sessions.

- the choices available to students for their individual work enables them to shape their training in the light of their own interests (particularly research and clinical medicine).

-  combining assessments at the end of each sector and an overall assessment at the end of the year enables students progressively to build on their learning