Twinning Project 2023

Academic mobility opportunities offer a chance to medical students to familiarize themselves with the meaning of Global Health and interact with the cultural element that influences the field of Medicine. As a result, they help students acquire intercultural competence, a remarkable trait which is important for future healthcare professionals to have, among others, in order to be able to offer their services without any barriers, under any cultural and social frame.

Despite the consistent inflow of academic mobility opportunities, especially in Europe, the accessibility of medical students differs to an important extent, mainly due to social and economical criteria. Moreover, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, these opportunities have been importantly minimized, which augmented the general problem of students’ accessibility to them. Concurrently, this has underlined the need to develop communication and cooperation skills between students from different backgrounds, and also to come in contact with the intercultural element even more.

HelMSIC as a member of EMSA (European Medical Students’ Association), and as an organisation that considers student mobility a method of education for medical students, organises programs and offers corresponding opportunities, especially through the Standing Committees on Professional and Research Exchanges. Therefore, it organises the “Twinning Project”, a program that connects two European Medical Schools as twins, in order to underline the importance of intercultural understanding and modern European identity.

Which are the goals of the program?
The program aims to:

• underline the importance of intercultural competence for medical students
• spread the idea of European Integration
• academically educate medical students through a different Healthcare and Educational System.

What does the program include?
The program consists of 3 stages.

The first stage includes the acquaintance and the online interaction of each participant with the participant they have been “twinned” with, before the two visits take place. 

The two other stages include the visits between the two Twinned Medical Faculties.

The program will have 10 to 15 medical students as participants, including all years of study. These students will become twins with the participants of the Twinned Medical Faculty, which they will visit during the second or third stage of the program, approximately for a week. Through this procedure, the participants will have the chance to experience another European way of living, provided that they will be accommodated by their “twin” participant during their visit.

The educational program of the project is mainly focused on the education of the participants in various current affairs topics through lectures, workshops, trainings and other educational activities. The project also includes a social program, in which the participants interact through various cultural and social activities.

Where and when will the program be held?
Athens – Bucharest

• Visit to Bucharest: 8-14 March 2023
• Visit to Athens: 3-9 April 2023

Alexandroupolis – Timisoara

• Visit to Timișoara: 20-26 February 2023
• Visit to Alexandroupolis: 24 April – 01 May 2023

Heraklion – Turin

• Visit to Turin: 08-14 March 2023
• Visit to Heraklion: 02-08 May 2023

Thessaloniki – Budapest

• Visit to Budapest: 18-24 February 2023
• Visit to Thessaloniki: 29 April – 05 May 2023

Patras – Istanbul

• Visit to Patras: 03-09 April 2023
• Visit to Istanbul: 24-30 April 2023

Participation fee
The participation fee is 80 euros and covers the accommodation, the transportation in the city and part of the meals of each participant during their visit to the host European city. 

The cost of the flight tickets for the transportation to the host country has to be covered exclusively by the participants.

Certificate of participation
After the completion of the Twinning Project, participants will receive a certificate from EMSA, as long as they have participated in all three stages of the program and they have filled out the evaluation form.