SPRING experts – on a visit to “Nicolae Testemitanu” University

A team of evaluators – experts under the project “Setting Review Tools and Objectives for Medical Education” (SPRING) – was on a working visit at Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy on 22 and 23 February this year.

The visit of the international delegation took place in the context of SPRING project implementation, to be carried out between November 2019 – November 2022 by the World Federation for Medical Education.

On the first day, experts met with the management team of the institution, discussions focusing mainly on the achievements of Nicolae Testemitanu University in terms of international accreditation and benefits of SPRING project in the field of medical education and scientific research for partner universities.

According to rector Emil Ceban, Nicolae Testemitanu University is the first higher education institution that, immediately after the '90s, has applied European and American standards in the training process. This action was also dictated by the fact that more and more young people from different countries were interested in pursuing their studies at our university and, respectively, it was necessary to adjust the programs to the specific requirements of the country of origin and the local medical system. “There were times when we had 1,700 students from Israel, now most of them are from India and the United States. At present, international students constitute almost 50 percent of the total number of study beneficiaries”, the rector informed. This allows the University to continuously develop and achieve the goal of internationalizing training and research processes. In this regard, due to international projects and collaborations, new study programs have been launched: Optometry, Nursing, Radiological Technology. The University has collaboration agreements with specialized institutions from 33 countries, and the medical training process is carried out in four languages: Romanian, Russian, English and French.

 Last year the current management team, in collaboration with the university subdivisions, developed the Strategic Institutional Development Plan for the next 10 years, which includes nine strategic objectives, the internationalization of the institution being one of them. “This year we hope to obtain the international accreditation of study programs – an ambitious project that we are all working on currently. We are also trying to keep up with the new information age, in the context of launching the government's digitalization program, including in the health system”, the rector pointed out.

Mahmudzoda Khaiyom, director of the Center for Strategic Development and Management at Avicenna Tajik State Medical University, one of the SPRING experts, described the delegation's visit as a friendly one, declaring his willingness to provide support and advice based on his own experience for the continuation of the strategic institutional development.

During the two working days at our university, the delegation had meetings and interviews with deans, vice-deans, heads of departments and academic staff members, students and resident doctors, which focused on issues related to the teaching and educational activity, evaluation and development of study programs, academic mobility programs, satisfaction of study beneficiaries, teachers and employers (representatives of medical institutions).

The agenda of foreign experts also included visits to the University Dental Clinic, the Museum of Human Anatomy, the Center for Academic Evaluation, the University Center for Simulation in Medical Training and student hostels.

SPRING project is funded with the support of the European Commission through ERASMUS+ CBHE program and contributes to the implementation of the national priority of the Republic of Moldova “Governance, Strategic Planning and Management of Higher Education Institutions”. This is the second regional project implemented in partnership with universities from the Republic of Moldova, Georgia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Lithuania and Bulgaria.