Dental Specialty Fellowship Examinations Conversion
Background
RCSEd has been working together with our sister UK Colleges to introduce an intercollegiate approach to assessment at Fellowship level. This covers 10 specialties (listed here: Dental Specialty Fellowship Examinations Information - Dental Examinations Executive), supporting trainees to demonstrate specialist knowledge, skills and capabilities and will go live in September 2026.
The qualification of Specialty Membership has always been a specialist level qualification in the UK and allows the individual, alongside evidence of their training, entry to the UK General Dental Council specialist lists. Dentists from outside the United Kingdom also choose to take our qualifications as a benchmark of their skills and abilities gained through study and training in local or national training programmes. We would advise that while assessment strategies may have changed in recent years, the rigorous standards of our examinations remain the same. It should be noted that RCSEd is the only UK Surgical College to have received confirmation from the General Dental Council that all of its specialty examinations met the regulator’s Quality Assurance requirements under the Standards for Specialty Education.
Pathway to Fellowship
RCSEd has offered all successful candidates of the Dental Specialty Membership Examination the opportunity to convert their Membership to Fellowship. This can be done through the Fellowship Without Examination route for those who achieved a recognised Dental Specialty Membership qualification of the College prior to January 2020 or through an application process for those who achieved the Dental Specialty Membership qualification since January 2020, as set out on our webpages.
Make an Application
Apply online here for Fellowship.
The application process will ask you to verify the details we hold on your account.
Our Membership Team will process the application, and you will be sent a payment link for the election fee and any difference in subscription rates. Please review our rates here.
If you have already paid your subscription for 2026 you will only be invoiced for the difference, if there is one.
Please note that by moving from Member to Fellow, you are only required to pay one subscription fee. The Fellowship fee would apply.
Once the payment/s is settled, you’ll be petitioned for election as a Fellow. We hold elections on the 15th of each month. Please note that the deadline for each election is the first of the month. Any applications submitted after the 1st will be petitioned for election the following month.
All elected Fellows will receive a welcome letter, digital diploma and a verification letter on or around the 15th of the month via email.
We will create your diploma, which will be signed by the President and Vice President.
Ceremony
As part of the application process, you will be asked if you wish to attend a ceremony and receive your diploma. Our Ceremonial team will be in touch with all Fellows that wish to attend, via email, shortly after the election.
