Title: 599989-EPP-1-UA-EPPJMO-MODULE "MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: CHALLENGES FOR UKRAINE" 

Type of project: Jean Monnet Academic Modules

Discipline: EU Interdisciplinary Studies

Responsible department for implementing the project at SumDU:

Department of Public Health

Period of realization: 01 September - 31 August 2021

Short description of the project: 

The project will start in September 2018. The autumn semester 2018 will be devoted to the elaboration of a detailed syllabus of the university course and program of the summer school. The university course will be started in the spring semester of 2019, the first summer school will take place in June 2019. In the first academic year of the project (2018/19), we will teach two academic groups of students. During the next academic years, we will teach at least two academic groups of students. As the teaching course is an introduction to the public health policy and practices of the EU, the same syllabus will be used for all specialties. 

Evaluation and quality control will be done by random sample external evaluation of student outputs, and student’s critical assessment of the course at the end of the semester, in close collaboration with other Departments of MI- SumDU and Erasmus+ office in Ukraine. Dissemination of the knowledge we will be carried out via summer school for academic and non-academic learners during the first year of the project; through the roundtable discussions with academic and non-academic learners, planned for the 2nd (June 2020) and for the 3rd (June 2021) years of the project; via the Module website; via two research articles on comparison of the EU and Ukrainian healthcare systems; and via a methodological book. Importantly, we already agreed with the representatives of the local government bodies from the United Territorial Community in Shalyhine, Sumy region, and their district medical practitioner, that they will also participate in our events. This will dramatically increase the penetration of the European studies to policy-makers and to the general public.

Two main target groups will be reached: 1) students and young researchers in General Medicine, Dentistry, and Public Health and 2) policy-makers, healthcare experts, representatives of NGOs, and the general public. Thus, both academic and non-academic learners will benefit from the project. The students of MI-SumDU will be reached through the teaching courses during three years of the project and include from 60 to 120 students per year. The non-academic learners will be reached through the Summer Schools (50-70 learners), 2 roundtables (around 50 participants), via the project website, and via the methodological book. In addition, both the target groups and the public will have access to the project added value through 2 peer review scientific publications of the Module team, written in general terms to be accessible to plain readers.

Upon reaching the relevant target groups, our project will achieve various key impacts. First, our course on EU public healthcare policies will result in increased awareness about European studies at MI-SumDU. The new knowledge will increase the professional abilities of our graduates. Participants from other SumDU Departments and from other universities in Ukraine, as well as Erasmus students from other countries, interested in deepening their knowledge about Ukraine, will also be encouraged to attend.

The specifically targeted impact consists of teaching key aspects of the EU public health policy to the student community, contributing to reflection and debate about healthcare challenges for Ukraine. The local policy-makers, which are nowadays in charge of transforming the Ukrainian healthcare system, will also be reached. Thus, the course impacts will reach up to increased chances of our graduates to successfully achieve employment in Sumy districts and regions.

Increased public outreach will also be ensured via an NGO “EuroColloquium” which has been recently created with a task to boost the introduction of European studies in the Sumy region. Thus, the specific impact will be achieved via sharing with this particular NGO material for further activities.

It is beyond the scope of the project, but it is important to note, that the evaluation of the current state with the teaching materials at MI- SumDU will lead to acquiring new teaching materials. Thus, a potential impact of the Module will be in translating and distributing in Ukraine Finnish textbooks, issued by the Finnish Medical Society Duodecim. We are in contact with the representatives of Duodecim and will be working towards reaching an agreement with them. 

In terms of the extended impact and follow-up activities, topics of our proposed research on comparative analysis of biomedical areas in the EU and in Ukraine will lead to scrutinizing the “bio-totalitarianism” phenomenon from our country’s past, which will eventually lead to establishing a museum of bio-totalitarianism, which will be unique of its kind, and which will boost getting rid of the past and adopting successful European practices.

Implementation of the JM Academic Module in curricula of General Medicine, Dentistry, and Public Health will disseminate gained knowledge on medical education policy and best practices on the public health system of the European Union among the most active and dynamic young Ukrainian future healthcare professionals. The Module will cover about 300 students during three years and will be continuing after the end of the project. This ensures that a substantial amount of young specialists and researchers with deepening their understanding of EU medical education policy and effective approaches in public healthcare will soon contribute to the Ukrainian labor market.

On the other hand, the summer school, oriented on non-academic learners, including policy-makers, healthcare experts, and representatives of NGOs will promote the dissemination of Module knowledge among another very important part of the learners, in particular representatives of the real economy sector of Ukraine. Thus, during the summer school non-academic learners will gain new knowledge on best European practices, some of them in the key management positions at their organizations. Consequently, the Module impact of their added awareness in the European issue will be really significant.

At our host University, the teaching practices will be improved according to the European role models. Seminars during the course, summer school, and round tables will increase the willingness of the learners to actively engage in gaining knowledge via debating with peers and will get interested in pursuing a critical thinking approach, which is an important prerequisite for establishing principles of the modern, knowledge-based economy. The students and graduates will increase their motivation to work in biomedical research projects, as it is common at EU universities. They will also gain knowledge on the European grant system, which is still underexploited in Ukraine due to lack of knowledge and relative experience. Our graduates, equipped with the knowledge on the European practices in the public healthcare system, will be more competitive in the labor market. On the other hand, the policy-makers, representatives of local government bodies, will get access to choosing the most promising graduates to hire them for their localities. The NGOs will learn to participate in the development of public thinking, based on the EU examples.

This Module project is one of the first steps in our strategy to promote European studies in Ukraine. It is important to underline that the teaching courses, summer schools, research projects, publications, and the website will continue by the Module team members after the formal end of the project. The Module team will remain a pillar to support the expansion of the European principles and practices in Ukraine. We will also transfer our experience to other post-soviet countries, e.g. Belarus or Armenia, when their time to adopt the European future comes.

Regulatory documents 

Rector's order on the creation of the project's workgroup

Changes to the Order

Useful Links

Project webpage (in Ukrainian)

Project Facebook group

 

Contact us 

Thematic Coordinator of the Project Serhii D. Kyrylenko Senior Lecturer of the Department of Public Health Sumy State University, Medical Institute 31, Sanatorna Str. Tel.: +38 (0542) 66-50-79 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.	Organization and Administration Coordinator of the Project Kostyantyn I. Kyrychenko Head of the International Affairs Department 2, Rymskogo-Korsakova Str. Library & Information Center, Room 309 Tel.: +38 (0542) 33-10-81 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Vladyslav A. Smiianov Head of the Department of Public Health University Hospital 9, Akademichna Str. Tel.: +38 (0542) 66-50-57 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Andrii M. Loboda Director of the Medical Institute 1, Sanatorna Str. Tel.: +38 (0542) 65-49-00, 66-09-50 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.