Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford, UK, is the first University in the World to offer students a practice-based degree in plastic surgery. The course is being offered with the aim of increasing standards in the cosmetic surgery industry.

The course offered is an MSc in Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery Practice and is offered from the University’s Postgraduate Medical Institute in Chelmsford, Essex and the first students will start the course in September 2012.

At present, all UK-qualified plastic surgeons are trained by the Royal College of Surgeons however their training is not cosmetic surgery-specific. It is hoped that the new degree will help give surgeons experience in the plastic surgery arena and therefore help improve the quality of surgery that patients receive.