Global Opportunities For Medical Students Recognised

Main Category: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 12 Sep 2008 - 11:00 PDT

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The University of Queensland's School of Medicine has been recognised for its provision of innovative programs in outward mobility and student exchange.

The School of Medicine won the Excellence in Outward Mobility award in the 2008 Queensland Education and Training International (QETI) awards last week.

It was among a number of UQ-associated programs and people presented with awards by the Minister for Transport, Trade, Employment and Industrial Relations, John Mickel.

QETI is the Queensland Government's international education and training industry agency.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Development) Professor Trevor Grigg congratulated UQ winners on their results.

He said the School of Medicine had entered into a number of international partnerships over the past few years throughout Asia, North and South America, Europe and Africa.

Head of the School of Medicine Professor David Wilkinson said the School had been committed to providing global opportunities for all students in the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery program.

"Over the past three years, between 30 and 50 percent of preclinical students in years one and two had an international experience in their elective periods and approximately 35 percent of clinical students in year three and four ventured overseas for one or more clinical rotation," Professor Wilkinson said.

Since 2006, 705 UQ medical students (approximately 44 percent of the total student body) visited overseas hospitals and universities, spending a minimum of four weeks.

"This experience exposes students to medicine in a range of different cultures and settings, and hence allows them to think and practice in a novel way.

"It also opens their minds more generally and helps them become effective global citizens," Professor Wilkinson said.

Other UQ QETI award recipients included:

Queensland Student Ambassador of the Year

Winner: Ms Marlo Kaye Rankin, a PhD student at UQ's School of Natural and Rural Systems Management. Ms Rankin during 2003 worked for a full year as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development in Vietnam with a UQ-led team in association with the Southern Institute of Fruit Research. As part of her PhD, Ms Rankin has continued research in the field in Vietnam and was selected as part of a Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries team to collaborate with their AusAID-funded project to capitalise on the relationships she had developed in country.

International Student of the Year

Highly commended: Mr Greg Xu, a 2007 Juris Doctor graduate, who will complete his MBA in December in only two and a half years; half the time it normally takes to complete the JD/MBA double with a cumulative Grade Point Average of 6.14. Mr Xu has sat on the UQ MBA Representative Committee, was elected to represent all coursework postgraduate students on the University's Academic Board, and was admitted to the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law's Dean's Honour Roll.

International Alumnus of the Year

Highly commended: Mr Path Heang. Mr Heang, who was taken from his parents at age six and forced into a Khmer Rouge labour camp, lived through decades of armed conflict in Cambodia Mr Heang taught himself English by reading the labels on food commodities sent by UNICEF when the Khmer Rouge was overthrown. From these beginnings he triumphed over adversity to win a Rotary World Peace Fellowship to study and graduate with a Masters in International Studies (Peace and Conflict Resolution) at UQ's School of Political Science and International Studies in 2004.

He worked with the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, was program officer for the World Bank's Justice for the Poor program and is currently working for the United Nations Development Program, in their Access to Justice project.

Best Practice in International Collaboration

Highly commended: University of Queensland Centre for Marine Studies. The Centre has developed innovative international programs that have generated enormous student enthusiasm for learning about Australia. Relationships with Stanford University, University of California, Hobart and William Smith and Union Colleges in the US, and the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand result in over 130 international students participating each year.

The University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia