PURPOSE The development of self-regulated learning (SRL) skills is vital for undergraduate students planning to embark on a career in healthcare delivery or research, but many University graduates lack these important skills. The purpose of this PhD research was to explore how an undergraduate Biomedicine program fosters student SRL and to gain insights into the influence of this unique context on student development of SRL. METHODS This qualitative study uses a social cognitive lens to investigate the characteristics and determinants of teaching that fosters SRL. Data collected from across higher education disciplines sensitized researchers to teaching practices that foster student SRL and the contextual influences on these practices. An analytical framework stemming from these findings was then applied to data collected in the Biomedicine case study. The case study combines self-report data from surveys and interviews with teaching observations and document analysis to explore both espoused and enacted approaches to foster student SRL. RESULTS A variety of teaching practices likely to foster student SRL in higher education were identified, typically involving task design, assessment and feedback, modelling or instruction. While factors such as educator beliefs and disciplinary values influenced teaching practices, consistent across exemplary cases was educator self-regulation that was made visible to students. Biomedical educators promote SRL in a variety of ways, including making their own self-regulation visible. However, obstacles such as educator workload and the expectation of heavy content coverage may discourage teaching that fosters student SRL. CONCLUSIONS The fostering of SRL in biomedicine is complex and influenced by personal, behavioural and environmental factors. A deeper understanding of the influences on teaching design gleaned from this study may assist program designers and front-line teachers to consider these factors when designing their teaching to foster student SRL.