Meeting of the Academic Council of ONMedU: summing up the results of the 2024–2025 academic year

On June 26, the last meeting of the Academic Council of the 2024/2025 academic year was held at Odessa National Medical University.
The meeting began with a tribute to the memory of the outstanding surgeon, one of the founders of the surgical school in southern Ukraine, Professor Borys Serhiyovych Zaporozhchenko, who recently passed away. For many years, Borys Serhiyovych headed the Department of Surgery of  Odessa National Medical University, educated more than one generation of doctors and scientists, and was a model of medical honor, deep knowledge, and dedication to the profession. He was respected by both students and colleagues for his integrity, humanity, and invaluable contribution to the development of medicine. Those present honored his memory with a minute of silence.
The first issue on the agenda concerned the results of the final certification of higher education graduates in 2025. The heads of the examination committees presented final reports, in which they noted the high level of preparation of the graduates. In his closing remarks on the results of the graduation campaign, the rector of ONMedU, academician Valerii Zaporozhan, said: “The results of the final certification are recognized as positive, the practical training of graduate students meets the requirements of the educational and qualification characteristics of the specialties “medicine”, “dentistry”, “pharmacy” and indicates their readiness for professional activity.” The Academic Council approved the results of the final certification of higher education applicants of the Faculties of Medicine? Dentistry and Pharmacy in 2025.
The Chairman of the Academic Council Valerii Zaporozhan made a report on the creation of the educational and production (scientific) medical cluster of Odessa National Medical University. The cluster is being created in partnership with the Odrex Medical Center and the Military Medical Clinical Center of the Southern Region, which will allow combining the potential of the public, private and military healthcare sectors. It will become a platform for piloting state reforms in healthcare and education in the region. Particular attention in the cluster’s activities will be paid to the rehabilitation of military personnel, veterans, as well as civilians who suffered as a result of a full-scale war. “This direction will have not only a clinical, but also an educational and scientific component – with the involvement of students, interns, postgraduates and teachers in the process of integrating scientific research into the practice of restorative medicine. Thus, the cluster will not only contribute to improving the quality of training of future specialists, but will also ensure a sustainable response of the medical community of the Southern Region to the needs of society in the conditions of post-war transformation,” Valeriy Zaporozhan emphasized.
The Academic Council approved the initiative to create an educational and production (scientific) medical cluster of Odessa National Medical University.

The vision for the implementation of a new model of planning and accounting for the educational and scientific activities of scientific and pedagogical workers at Odessa National Medical University from the next academic year was presented by the First Vice-Rector, Professor Valeria Marichereda. This spring, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine presented new legislative requirements that introduce systemic changes to the regulation of the activities of employees of higher education institutions, primarily in terms of the ratio of educational and scientific components and the division of academic staff into pedagogical and scientific and pedagogical workers. ONMedU takes this model as a strategic reference point for the implementation of new approaches to academic planning. “The goal of our initiative is to create a flexible, transparent and fair model of planning and accounting for the activities of scientific and pedagogical workers, which complies with legislative norms, takes into account martial law and individual conditions of employees, stimulates high-quality scientific activity and ensures institutional resource management,” Valeria Marichereda emphasized. Her proposal to develop model documents and indicators that will ensure the launch of this system in the new academic year, by September 1, 2025, was supported by the Academic Council.
During the meeting, the awarding of academic titles to department employees was considered, the creation of a one-time specialized academic council for the defense of dissertations for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy was approved, curricula for the training of Doctors of Philosophy for 2025–2026, educational and professional programs, a number of Regulations on the work of university departments, a limit was set for scholarship students for the assignment of an academic scholarship based on the results of semester control, a recommendation was made for the publication of the journals “Odessa Medical Journal” and “Integrative Anthropology”, methodological manuals and monographs developed by the institution’s employees.
At the end of the meeting, the Chairman of the Academic Council, Valeriy Zaporozhan, expressed gratitude to all university employees for their conscientious work during the academic year, wished them a good rest, a peaceful summer, and called on them to return to work in the new academic year with new strength, inspiration, and ideas, which, according to him, should be another step forward in the development of the university.