Robert Lee quit business to become a student

It is trying to attract students who do not have a traditional academic background.

It promises a new approach to training, with emphasis on clinical skills from day one.

Robert, now 25, who lives in Stoke, Plymouth, has been taking an access course for people returning to education.

Spokeswoman Lisa Snowden said: "The Peninsular Medical School has a brief to widen participation in medical education.

"Obviously Robert fits that profile very, very well.

Best present

"We are very pleased to have him."

Robert said: "I was absolutely over the moon.

Work continues on the Plymouth teaching block

"It was the best Christmas present I could have hoped for.

"I think its absolutely brilliant for Devon and Cornwall to encourage more mature students with life skills, because I think that's a crucial part of being a doctor."

His wife, Stephanie, said: "It's going to be worth it in the end - five years of hard slog."

The new medical school - the first in the UK for 30 years - is under construction in Exeter and Plymouth.

An extension is to open later in Truro, Cornwall, where nurses will study alongside medical students.

The school is being established by the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth and the Open University, as part of a government strategy to train an extra 950 doctors a year.