Penang Medical College is a partnership in medical education between the Penang State Government (through the Penang Development Corporation) and the Irish Medical Colleges of the National University of Ireland (NUI): the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and the University College Dublin (UCD). The purpose is to deliver a medical programme that combines the best of both worlds: an Irish medical degree (the MB BCH BAO conferred by NUI) where graduates are well versed in the disease patterns and the healthcare system of the country in which they will eventually practice: Malaysia. It is a NOT-FOR-PROFIT Instituition committed to developing professionals capable of independent practice.

Students spend the initial 2½ or 3½ years in Dublin undergoing their pre-clinical training with our partner Colleges in Ireland. They subsequently return to Penang Medical College to complete their clinical training.

The college has grown from strength to strength as from 1996 and culminated in the 10th Anniversary Celebrations on 1st July 2006 which saw a grand gathering of leading academic leaders of both UCD, RCSI and PMC and the Penang State Government led by the Honourable Chief Minister YAB Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, the Director General of the Ministry of Health , Malaysia, Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican and other dignitaries from the Medical Fraternity and Government.

Since 1999, 6 cohorts of students totaling 242 students have graduated and are now serving as Medical Officers and Specialists in Malaysia and various parts of the world. Some foreign graduates who have returned to their countries of origin are already making great strides in the medical environment as researchers, medical specialists and even as government administrators and teachers.