Manchester medical student made to retake a year after missing one exam whilst isolating

‘I’ve had such horrible consequences imposed upon me by an institution that I had trusted would be supportive’


Wenbin Guo, a third-year medical student at Manchester University, missed an exam because of self-isolation, now he’s been told to retake the entire year.

Wenbin, 22 and from Sheffield, missed the exam because his housemate tested positive for coronavirus and NHS Test and Trace told him to self-isolate.

After speaking to the university and initially being reassured by them, Wenbin says he was then told it wouldn’t be possible to just retake the exam and he would have to redo the entire year. He has now started his third year and is still appealing the decision.

Wenbin says a Machester professor argued that letting a resit happen with only one student would not be “fair and valid”, and might not meet GMC standards for medics. They argued he should retake third year as it would be difficult for him to study for a resit during his fourth year.

Wenbin told The Tab Manchester: “The uni’s actions made me seriously consider whether to continue on the course and even now I still have lingering doubts about whether I want to be a doctor for my entire career.

“My faith in the uni is at an all time low since they’ve essentially punished for me following the law at the time and abiding by the professionalism standards demanded of medical students.”

“I’ve done nothing wrong and am justifiably angry that I’ve had such horrible consequences imposed upon me by an institution that I had trusted would be supportive”.

A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “The welfare of our students is always of the utmost importance to us.

“We are also required to follow the quality assurance steps set out by the General Medical Council (GMC). These are designed to ensure patient safety.

“We are in active dialogue and correspondence with the student in question and continue to offer them our full support.

“However, they still have a further right of appeal within the University so we will not be commenting on this case any further at present.”

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