St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College

Health and medical education

St. Paul's is a teaching hospital that grew into a medical college. The hospital was established in 1968 under Emperor Haile Selassie. The medical school opened in 2007, and a Council of Ministers decree made it a college in 2010. It is governed by a board under the Federal Ministry of Health, not the Ministry of Education. These dates come from the Ministry of Health's profile of the college. Other sources differ slightly: the World Directory of Medical Schools gives 2008 as the year medical teaching began, and Wikipedia gives 1969 for the hospital.

Medicine

The MD is the college's flagship programme. The World Directory lists it as 5.5 years, shorter than the usual six. The Ministry of Health describes St. Paul's as introducing Ethiopia's first integrated modular, hybrid problem-based curriculum. A 2020 history of Ethiopian medical education, by contrast, says the problem-based approach "could not take off well". If teaching style matters to you, ask current students how the course runs today.

The biggest difference from most Ethiopian medical schools is how students get in. St. Paul's runs its own selection. In its 2026/27 call it:

• Asked for a minimum school-leaving exam (ESSLCE) score of 475 for men and 450 for women. The minimums were 25 points lower for applicants from Afar, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambela, Somali and several named zones.
• Required a grade 9–12 transcript average of at least 80% for medicine.
• Weighted the final decision as a written exam 55%, a multiple mini-interview 15% (shortlisted applicants only) and academic records 30%. The written exam covers situational judgement and visual, spatial, numeric and verbal reasoning.
• Capped intake at 95 medical students and 30 nursing students, with 10–15% of places reserved for applicants from emerging regions and zones.

Applications were online only, through the college portal, with a 1,000 birr fee.

Nursing

Nursing at St. Paul's started in March 2012 with two specialty degrees, operating-theatre nursing and emergency and critical-care nursing. It became a School of Nursing in 2022. The school lists five specialty undergraduate programmes: paediatrics and child health, surgical, neonatal, emergency and critical care, and operating-theatre nursing. For 2026/27 the college launched a BSc in Comprehensive Nursing. The call called it "the first of its kind" and promised simulation-based learning. It required a 70% transcript average and its own minimum ESSLCE scores.

At master's level, the 2025/26 call listed MSc programmes in critical care, cardiovascular, neonatal, clinical oncology and cardiothoracic nursing, and in paramedic science. Most ask for at least a year of relevant clinical experience.

Public health and other postgraduate degrees

The School of Public Health offers four MPH tracks: general public health, nutrition, epidemiology, and health communication and promotion. Each runs in regular and weekend modes, and a female scholarship is available for the regular programme. The School of Medicine also listed MSc programmes in respiratory therapy, medical microbiology and medical radiologic technology. Self-sponsored microbiology students were quoted 1,400 birr per credit hour. All postgraduate applicants must pass the national NGAT test.

Residencies and fellowships

St. Paul's is a major centre for specialist training. Its obstetrics and gynaecology residency took its first class of seven in 2012–13. The department now advertises two-year fellowships in maternal–fetal medicine, gynaecologic oncology, reproductive endocrinology and infertility, and family planning. In 2025–26 the college's Telegram channel also carried fellowship calls in adult cardiology, adult nephrology, adult haematology and medical oncology, gastroenterology and hepatology, intensive care and paediatric subspecialties.

The hospital

According to the Ministry of Health, the hospital has more than 700 beds and sees about 1,200 emergency and outpatient clients a day. Patients are referred from all over the country. The college employs more than 2,800 clinical, academic, administrative and support staff. Its faculty grew from 3 to 250 members over six years. Wikipedia adds that the hospital hosts the country's National Kidney Transplant Center.

Accreditation and rankings

When we checked the Education and Training Authority's online register on 4 November 2026, it held no St. Paul's programme. The register lists only 13 accreditations nationwide so far, so absence is not a failing mark. St. Paul's appears on no EduRank or uniRank list. Those sites rank universities mostly by research output, and a standalone hospital college doesn't fit their model.

The institution

St. Paul's sits in Gulele Sub-City in north-western Addis Ababa. The college and hospital share one site. The college is organised into a School of Medicine, a School of Nursing and a School of Public Health, under a provost and vice-provosts for academic and medical services, research, and business development. It runs an institutional review board, a health and demographic surveillance site and an annual scientific conference; the seventh was held in 2026.

St. Paul's has built its programmes with outside partners. Wikipedia lists affiliations with Addis Ababa University, Jimma University, Tulane University, the University of Michigan and the Open University. It also lists partners such as the Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Bergen and the University of Alberta. The first dean of the medical school was Gordon Williams of Hammersmith Hospital, London, appointed when Tedros Adhanom was health minister.

Because it reports to the Ministry of Health, St. Paul's runs its own admissions for undergraduates. The national placement system does not assign students to it. Watch the college's website, Facebook page and Telegram channel (about 22,000 subscribers) for the yearly call, usually in September. Exam dates and interview shortlists are posted there too, and the college tells applicants not to come in person.

Fees: the college publishes application and registration fees (1,000 birr for undergraduate applications, 400 birr for postgraduate registration in 2025/26). We found no published tuition schedule.

Before you apply

• Watch the September window. The 2026/27 undergraduate call was open only from 10 to 18 September, online only, through portal.sphmmc.edu.et.
• Check the exam score cut-offs for your region and sex before paying the 1,000 birr fee. The college says incomplete or misleading applications are rejected automatically.
• Prepare for an aptitude test and interviews, not just grades. The written exam (55%) tests reasoning and situational judgement, and shortlisted applicants sit a multiple mini-interview.
• Ask whether the MD is on the ETA's new accreditation register yet. It was not when we checked, which is common, but the college can show you its current licence.
• Ask about the curriculum in practice. Sources disagree on how much problem-based learning survives in the MD course.
• For postgraduate study, confirm the NGAT requirement and whether your programme is regular, weekend or "residence type" before you arrange sponsorship.