On 8 April 2006, Prime Minister John Howard announced that Deakin University would host Victoria's third medical school.

Third year Deakin University medical students in the RCCS program are hosted in general practices in regional and rural Victorian towns including Bacchus Marsh, Daylesford, Colac, Ararat, Camperdown, Casterton, Horsham, Stawell and Hamilton.

Teaching is provided by face-to-face instruction by general practitioners, clinical skills trainers, visiting medical and surgical specialists, online lectures and tutorials.

Unlike in the other clinical schools attached to Deakin, the RCCS curriculum follows a Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) model.

By placing students in rural general practices rather than major metropolitan hospitals, the aim of RCCS is to give students exposure to primary care and country family medicine, with the ultimate objective of encouraging more medical graduates to work in regional Australia, particularly in general practice.