The program of support of Ukrainian universities “Twinning”,

Dear teachers, scientists and students!

We are glad to inform you that Odesa National Medical University has joined the program of support of Ukrainian universities called “Twinning”, introduced by Cormack Consultancy Group (Great Britain) in partnership with the National representative body of UK Universities.

The concept is simple: the Ukrainian university is twinned with a university from the UK (or the US, Canada or the EU) of a similar profile, size and education offer. The international partner signs up to support the Ukrainian university for a minimum of 5 years.

Olga Budnyk – Adviser to the President of Ukraine on the Presidential Fund for support the education, science and sport said:

“We find Charles Cormack’s “Twinning Initiative” very promising. The idea of launching a programme of support when our University is twinned with an institution of higher education of a similar profile from the UK as a reliable partner will definitely contribute to enhance the quality of higher education in both universities, exchange best practice as well as recognize opportunities for future development and creating positive space for research and new ideas.”

The famous Queen Mary University, London, Great Britain (https://www.qmul.ac.uk/ ) became a twin of Odesa National Medical University

Twinning call 1 – Odessa National Medical University (ONMedU) and Queen Mary University (QMU), 1 July 2022

• This was the initial call between the two institutions to discuss twinning
• Both institutions introduced themselves and gave apologies for their colleagues who were not able to join the call
• ONMedU was established in 1900 and has 6 Faculties, 59 departments, 3 university clinics as well as Scientific and Research Institutes, and Innovative Learning Technologies and Lifelong Education
• ONMedU have 8,920 students, of which 5,412 are undergraduate, 3,508 are postgraduate – 51% of students are international
• ONMedU have been teaching in English for c.10 years
• ONMedU would like to focus on:

• • International Cooperation

• • • Academic and Cultural Exchange
    • Double Degrees
    • Staff mobility
    • Joint programmes, research groups and programmes

• • Academic Support

• • • Access to online courses, databases and learning materials and libraries

• • Infrastructure support

• • • Renovating dormitories for displaced students and academics
    • Servers and technical support
    • Equipment for simulators and computers

• QMU was established in 1785, with 9 Nobel Laureates, 32,000 students including international campuses
• The Faculty of medicine and dentistry is almost 900 years old
• QMU have been very active so far in supporting Ukraine, including providing online lectures

• • https://qmplus.qmul.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=19333#section-5 – Password is 123

• QMU have a number of teaching fellowships
• QMU could also offer clinical electives for students with good English
• QMU will need to look at providing Library access
• QMU can provide access to research groups
• For Twinning, the two universities could look at

• • Research collaborations
  • Clinical placement support
  • Training skills for teaching staff

• ONMedU will send a list of their immediate priorities, and what is most needed
• As next steps

• • Signing an MOU
  • Research partnerships would be interesting
  • Getting the students’ unions/groups in touch with each other.

We will keep you informed about the further development of our Twinning-partnership with Queen Mary University.