PROMO / December
Publicity photos
MEDICAL
EDUCATION
The future of
Rīga Stradiņš
University educates
your future health
professionals
for the whole of
Europe, because
the future is work-
based learning.
European society is ageing – this is no longer just
a prediction but reality. As the number of people
who have reached retirement age increases, society
is facing a number of problems, and high-quality
medical care is one of the most urgent. It is precisely
for this reason that it is increasingly under debate
whether Europe’s largest universities will be able
to prepare the necessary number of medical
professionals required. Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU)
is frequently listed among the leading institutions that
provide high-quality medical study programmes. It
offers quality medical studies with additional benefits
in that international students have the opportunity to
practice medicine in their home countries.
RSU is one of the most modern universities in
the Baltics, with a wide range of study programmes
in the fields of health care and the social sciences.
RSU has received not only the highest ranking
among Latvia’s universities, but also international
recognition and acknowledgement of its accredited
specialists. RSU guest professor Prof. Dr. Peter E.
Goretzki, from the globally renowned and prestigious
university hospital Charité in Berlin, says: ‘I have
had the opportunity to track RSU’s growth over
the decades. It has indeed been rapid, and RSU has
built up a very good reputation in Germany. RSU is a
success story and it must continue on its path. This
will undeniably make RSU the best university in the
Baltic region.’
RSU is a very international environment: about
a quarter of the students are internationals hailing
from almost 50 different countries, most of them in
Europe (e.g. Germany and the Nordics). Eleven of
the university’s study programmes are conducted
in English. RSU Rector, Professor Aigars Pētersons,
says: ‘RSU is open and international. We believe
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that students of different nationalities enrich the
study environment and its processes, and we take
care to ensure that foreign students get to know the
Latvian culture and language, as well as make new
friends. The international makeup of the student
body gives added value to the learning process. We
are currently actively looking at opportunities to
expand our operations abroad, and are in the process
of opening RSU branches in Germany and Italy.’
It should be noted that RSU students can already
do their internships in Germany. Students make
active use of this opportunity, and the university has
received positive feedback from both students and the
specialists who oversee them.
RSU has signed a cooperation agreement with
the General Hospital in the northern Italian city of
Bolzano, which will act as a teaching hospital for
RSU. This is the second work-study partnership
established abroad by RSU – the first was initiated
less than two years ago at the Lukaskrankenhaus
Academic Teaching Hospital in Neuss, Germany. The
decision to partner with Italy was based on the large
number of students coming from that particular
region – there are currently nearly 100 students
from Italy studying at RSU. Toms Baumanis,
Vice-Rector for Administration and Development
at RSU, elaborates: ‘We are moving towards giving
students the opportunity to do their internship in
their home country, which is where they are likely to
actually embark on their careers.’ RSU is at present
actively working to ensure that, starting with 2020,
students who wish to will be able to spend their
sixth and final academic year abroad. The goal is to
provide students with a clinical study environment,
internship, and learning process in the environment
and language in which they will ultimately pursue
their professional careers. ‘Education is becoming
global. The opportunity to receive a quality education
in one’s own country can only be viewed as an
advantage,’ emphasises Baumanis. RSU also plans to
open branches in the Nordic countries and Israel, with
studies held in English. RSU students can choose to go
to any of the countries with which the university has a
partnership, provided they have sufficient knowledge of
the relevant language(s).
Simon Scheibner, Vice-President of the RSU
International Students’ Association, points out the
advantages that RSU offers: ‘This unique environment
in which you can study with future doctors from
53 different countries provides you with an amazing
network. The companionship among the students is
outstanding, as indicated by the more than 15 active
student organisations at RSU. After having studied
medicine in Germany for some time, I decided to
return to RSU – here, the use of modern equipment,
accessible scientific work, and the curriculum were
simply more impressive.’
Robert Ekman, President of the RSU International
Students’ Association, adds: ‘RSU is the new home
for students who dare to take the next step – to a
new country, towards new studies, towards new
opportunities. Plenty of clinical practice is given, and if
you are outgoing, hours of extracurricular practice is at
your disposal. That first step can later take you further
abroad for a year with the Erasmus programme, or
perhaps to Germany or Italy for your internship – you
can decide what’s best for you.’
The opportunity to do a year of study in your home
country or abroad is just one of the many benefits
offered by RSU. RSU’s location is very favourable in that
Riga is the largest city in the Baltic States and has all
of the advantages of a European metropolis. Moreover,
Riga is now a major hub for international air traffic and
the proximity of the airport to RSU’s campus provides
students with easy access to virtually anywhere in
the world. Foreign students especially appreciate the
short travel times to most European cities; for example,
Germany is just a couple of hours away by plane.
Another advantage of studying at RSU is the
personalised approach to learning, which is possible
due to small class sizes and low student-to-teacher
ratios. For example, in the Dentistry programme,
educators work face-to-face with groups containing no
more than eight students. In other programmes, the
number of students per group does not exceed twelve,
ensuring that each student receives the full attention of
his or her educators. Likewise, small groups mean that
teaching staff can closely monitor the progress of each
student, thereby facilitating that students meet the
high requirements set by their programme of study.
‘We care about our reputation. A diploma from
RSU must be earned through diligent work and
demonstration of the pertinent knowledge attained.
Anything less is unacceptable,’ asserts Baumanis.
Speaking about RSU’s partnerships abroad, Baumanis
emphasises that with this opportunity, in addition to
providing its students with internships, it is important
for RSU to implement a clinical training process in
which the student not only learns the theoretical
principles of clinical work as expected ‘on paper’, but
also participates and experiences the day-to-day reality
of working at a health care institution together with
experienced professionals. As Professor Goretzki puts
it: ‘In the daily work at a clinic, the doctor must be able
to establish a systemic approach towards the patient
based on specific symptoms, and not just give a general
answer about the disease.’
rsu.lv
Baltic Outlook
/ 2018 / 133