The University of Lagos, widely known as UNILAG, is a first-generation federal university whose College of Medicine ranks among the oldest and most established medical training centres in Nigeria. Founded in 1962, the college — often referred to by its acronym CMUL or by the affectionate short form Medilag — sits at Idi-Araba in Lagos, directly beside its affiliated teaching hospital, the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). This article lists every medical course offered at UNILAG, explains the current school fees structure for medical and health science students for the 2026/2027 academic session, and covers admission requirements and other essential details a prospective student needs before applying.
About the College of Medicine, University of Lagos
The College of Medicine began operations in October 1962 when the first batch of 28 medical students received their inaugural lectures. Over the decades, the college has expanded from a small medical school into a large, multi-faculty institution with a student population of close to 2,000 across dozens of departments. Medical training at UNILAG runs on a split-campus structure: pre-clinical and basic science years take place partly on the main Akoka campus, while the College of Medicine campus at Idi-Araba houses the clinical, dental, and allied health faculties, alongside close working ties to LUTH, where students complete much of their hands-on clinical training.
UNILAG restructured its academic organisation in recent years, splitting what used to be a smaller number of broad faculties into a larger set of more specialised ones. As a result, medical and health-related training at UNILAG today spans several distinct faculties rather than sitting under one single college umbrella, though all of them remain closely linked through shared facilities, shared teaching hospital access, and a common academic calendar.
List of Medical Courses Offered at UNILAG
Medical and health science training at UNILAG runs across six faculties: Basic Medical Sciences, Basic Clinical Sciences, Clinical Sciences, Dental Sciences, Health Professions, and Pharmacy. The table below sets out each faculty, the departments or fields of study within it, and the degree a student earns on completion.
| Faculty | Departments/Fields of Study | Degree Awarded |
|---|---|---|
| Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences | Anatomy, Physiology, Medical Biochemistry, Pharmacology/Therapeutics and Toxicology, Biomedical Engineering | BSc (feeds into Medicine and Dentistry pre-clinical training) |
| Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences | Anatomic and Molecular Pathology, Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Clinical Pathology, Clinical Pharmacology, Medical Microbiology and Parasitology | BSc / supports MBBS training |
| Faculty of Clinical Sciences | Medicine, Surgery, Anaesthesia, Community Health and Primary Care, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Paediatrics, Psychiatry, Radiation Biology/Radiotherapy/Radiodiagnosis, Nursing Science | Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS); Bachelor of Nursing Science (BNSc) |
| Faculty of Dental Sciences | Child Dental Health, Oral Pathology/Biology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Preventive Dentistry, Restorative Dentistry | Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) |
| Faculty of Health Professions | Medical Laboratory Science, Physiotherapy, Radiography | BMLS; Bachelor of Physiotherapy (B.Physio); BSc Radiography |
| Faculty of Pharmacy | Pharmacognosy, Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Clinical Pharmacy and Biopharmacy | Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) |
This spread gives prospective students a wide range of medically related career paths to choose from, running from the six-year MBBS programme that trains medical doctors, through dentistry, pharmacy, and nursing, to the allied health disciplines of medical laboratory science, physiotherapy, and radiography.
Programme Duration
Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) at UNILAG runs for six years for candidates admitted through UTME, covering pre-clinical study in the basic medical and basic clinical sciences before students proceed into full clinical training and hospital rotations under LUTH. Dentistry and Dental Surgery follows a similarly structured six-year programme. Direct Entry candidates into either Medicine or Dentistry, who typically already hold a relevant first degree or advanced qualification, are admitted into a higher year and generally complete the programme in five years.
Pharmacy runs for five years at UNILAG, covering the full range of pharmaceutical science training before graduates proceed to the mandatory internship year required for professional licensing. Nursing Science, Medical Laboratory Science, Physiotherapy, and Radiography generally run for four to five years, depending on the entry route and the specific curriculum requirements of each department.
School Fees for Medical Courses at UNILAG for 2026/2027
As a federal university, UNILAG does not charge conventional tuition fees in the way private universities do; instead, students pay a combination of registration, service, and departmental charges that make up the total cost of a session. The fee structure differs depending on whether a student is a fresh admission or a returning student, and whether the course involves laboratory or studio-based instruction. Medical students, because of the heavily practical and laboratory-intensive nature of their training, fall into the highest fee bracket among UNILAG’s fee categories.
For fresh undergraduate students, courses without a laboratory or studio component carry a total charge of around ₦126,325 per session, while courses with laboratory or studio components, which include most medical and health science courses, carry a total charge of around ₦176,300 per session. These figures combine several individual charges: registration, identity card, result verification, examinations, library services, information technology and entrepreneurship charges, a students’ handbook fee, laboratory or studio charges, accreditation, medical services, TISHIP (tertiary institutions social health insurance), sports, matriculation, and an endowment fund contribution.
For returning students, the fee structure drops slightly across most categories, but medical students specifically are billed under their own distinct fee bracket because of the added cost of continued laboratory, dissection, and clinical training resources. Returning students in courses without laboratory or studio work pay a total of around ₦100,750 per session. Returning students in laboratory or studio-based courses outside medicine pay around ₦140,250. Returning medical students specifically, covering MBBS, BDS, and related clinical-track programmes, pay a higher total of around ₦190,250 per session, reflecting the intensified laboratory and clinical training charges built into their fee schedule.
Beyond these standard charges, students should also budget for a toxicology screening fee of around ₦10,000 for new students, and a utility charges fee of around ₦20,000 that applies broadly across the student body. Final-year students additionally pay a convocation fee of around ₦30,000 in their graduating session. Field trip charges, where applicable to a specific course of study, are billed separately as needed.
Because UNILAG periodically reviews its approved fee schedule, and because charges can shift slightly from one session to the next, a prospective or returning medical student should confirm the exact, current figure for their specific department by checking the university’s official fee schedule or logging into the student portal before making any payment for the 2026/2027 session.
Admission Requirements for Medical Courses at UNILAG
Admission into Medicine and Surgery, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and other medical or allied health courses at UNILAG follows the standard route through the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), combined with the university’s own post-UTME screening exercise. A candidate needs at least five O’Level credit passes obtained in not more than two sittings, and the required subjects typically include English Language, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology for Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and the Basic Medical Sciences. Allied health courses such as Nursing Science, Medical Laboratory Science, Physiotherapy, and Radiography carry similar core science subject requirements given their clinical orientation.
UNILAG sets a general minimum UTME score of 200 as the baseline requirement for eligibility to sit the post-UTME screening exercise. Medicine and Dentistry, however, are consistently among the most competitive courses at the university, and successful candidates in recent admission cycles have typically needed scores well above this general baseline, given the limited number of available seats relative to the very high volume of applications these programmes attract each year.
Direct Entry candidates applying for Medicine, Dentistry, or Nursing generally need a relevant first degree, an advanced-level qualification, or, for Nursing specifically, an existing Registered Nurse (RN) qualification or a related diploma from a recognised institution. Candidates must also be at least 16 years old by 31st October of the year they intend to commence their studies.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many years does it take to become a medical doctor at UNILAG?
The Medicine and Surgery programme runs for six years for UTME candidates. Direct Entry candidates with relevant prior qualifications typically complete the programme in five years.
Why do medical students pay more than other students at UNILAG?
Medical, dental, and allied health courses require extensive laboratory work, dissection resources, clinical training materials, and hospital-based instruction, all of which push their total charges above the standard fee bracket applied to non-laboratory courses.
Is Pharmacy considered part of the College of Medicine at UNILAG?
Pharmacy operates as its own faculty at UNILAG, separate from the College of Medicine’s core faculties, though it remains closely related to medical training and shares the College of Medicine campus at Idi-Araba.
Does UNILAG offer Nursing as an undergraduate course?
Yes. UNILAG offers a Bachelor of Nursing Science (BNSc) through its Department of Nursing Science under the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, alongside postgraduate nursing programmes at the master’s and postgraduate diploma level.
Where do UNILAG medical students complete their clinical training?
Clinical training takes place primarily at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), which sits directly beside the College of Medicine campus at Idi-Araba and serves as UNILAG’s main affiliated teaching hospital.