European Medical Students‘ Association

ErasmusmedicusHandbook

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Introduction 3

Social Events for Erasmus Students 4

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 4

Day-trip 4

Bar tour 4

Language 5

Tandem for incomings and outgoings 5

Organizing medical language courses 5

EuroTalk 5

Information: A handbook or homepage for

exchange students 6

Sources of financial support for Erasmus medicus 7

Cooperation with other organizations 7

Erasmus medicus e-group 7

Appendix 8

Content

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Dear EMSAi,

Each year hundreds of medical students take part in the European exchange program ERASMUS. Exchange students face many obstacles like different teaching and working methods, language problems or social isolation. Erasmus medicus is a new EMSA project idea that aims to ease the problems of medical exchange students and is adapted to their special needs.At the EMSA General Assembly 2006 in Pécs/Hungary a working group compiled medical exchange students‘ main problems and thought about possibilities how EMSA members could help. An e-group was formed that discussed possible projects for medical ERASMUS students in July and August 2007. Further action will be taken by an working group at the EMSA General Assembly 2007 in Ankara/Turkey.Erasmus medicus is a very promising project: It can bring European medical students closer together, helps to integrate ERASMUS students in their host countries and might be the beginning of many inter-European friendships.Europeanly yours,

Simon RiederVice President 2005/2006European Medical Students’ Association

Introduction

Introduction

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SoCiAl EvEnTS For ErASMuS STudEnTS

Social isolation is one of the main problems medical ERASMUS students are facing during their stay in a foreign country. A fun way to help is to organize social events for foreign and local students. Here are some ideas.

Breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner

Eating, talking and laughing together is a great way to make new contacts. There a no limits to your ideas: A picnic in a park, a dinner in a typical local restaurant or even a menu tour (different people prepare different courses of the menu, e.g. the appetizers take place in one house, the main dish and the dessert are in other places).

Day-tripThere are some nice spots in the region of your university town? It could be exciting to rent a small bus and organize a day trip to these places. Maybe an unforgettable event.

Bar tourWhere do students hang out in the evenings? The best spots in your town might be hard to find for foreigners. You can bet on that they would love to have a tour to the nicest bars and clubs in town.

Social events.„Eating, talking and laughing together is a great way to

make new contacts.“

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LAnGUAGE

The language barrier is a major problem for all exchange students. On the one hand, it may be difficult to follow the courses, on the other hand, it could be difficult to get and stay in contact with local students. language difficulties therefore can result in study problems and in social isolation.

Tandem for incomings and outgoings

One idea to break down the language barrier is Tandem: Local students learn a foreign language from an exchange student and the exchange student improves his/her skills in the local language. It‘s a free private language session for both. And maybe it ends in a good friendship. Of course Tandem works only if the exchange student stays for a longer period. One of the classic ways to find a tandem partner is a note on a billboard. Maybe you can help to match “Tandems” by creating a special Tandem billboard. Such a matching billboard could also be done in the internet. “Medical student from italy is looking for local French medical student...”

Organizing medical language courses

Some faculties organize medical language course. However, there is sometimes a problem: The teachers are usually linguists and not medical professionals - therefore they have sometimes problems with the correct medical terminology. At the medical faculty of Freiburg university, a group of EMSA members did the following: They asked medical doctors from other countries working in Freiburg to hold medical language courses. They are usually doing it for free or they get a little bit of money for their efforts. Therefore the language courses can be quite cheap; people only have to pay for teaching materials. Maybe this is an option for your faculty as well.

EuroTalk

EuroTalk is an established EMSA project where medical language courses in local language (duration: one - two weeks) are organized at a faculty. People from all over Europe are invited and can join the EuroTalk language course. Please check the EMSA EuroTalk handbook or the EMSA website for more information about EuroTalk.

Language.„Foreign doctors teach incoming Erasmus

students in Germany.“

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Information: A handbook or homepage for exchange students

Exchange students often lack valuable information: Where can i find the students‘ office? How can I buy coupons for the students‘ restaurant? Where do all the students hang out in the evening? (Just to name some examples.) very often sufficient information is not provided by the medical faculty to the exchange students. One solution is to create a handbook - for students by students.Issues this handbook might touch are: - Where are classrooms and hospital sites? - Where can i find the faculty‘s offices and which are the opening hours? - Where is the library and how can I get a library pass? - How can I access the e-learning platform of the medical faculty? - How am i notified about my marks? - Where do I get hospital white coats? Is there a special dress code during classes or in the hospital? - How do I get a meal in the students‘ restaurant? What are cool spots to eat? - How can I get a students‘ ticket for the public transportation? - Are there any websites offering apartment rentals? Is there a bill-board for rooms? - How can I open a bank account and where can I get insurances? (Here is the possibility to find support from sponsors.) - How do i find information about part-time job offers close to the medical school and/or university hospital (as this could help with the Erasmus-incomings‘ personal finances) - Where can I get medical books? Where is the next copy shop? (another possibility for sponsoring.) - Can i get financial support from somewhere? (e.g. in France exchange students can get support for their apartment renting costs.) - Where can I get support if I have psychological problems? (some faculties offer telephone hotlines.) - Where do i find the next church/synagogue/mosque? - Does the university offer sports activities and how can I take part in them? - What a nice local locations to go to in the evening and on the weekends? - Where and when does the local EMSA group meet and can I join them? :-)

One way to give all this information to Erasmus students is to make a printed handbook. If your local EMSA group has a website, you could also convert the handbook to PdF and make it availableon your website for download. Of course you can also make real internet pages in HTML.

Information.„Exchange students often lack valuable information.“

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PoSSiblE SourCES oF FinAnCiAl SuPPorT For ErASMuS MEdiCuS

Concerning financial support for your activities, there are two stakeholders that are especially interested in successful ERASMUS exchanges:

1.) Your medical faculty or your university is probably interested in happy incoming Erasmus students. If exchange students go home happy, more exchange students want to come to your faculty in the future. If more students want to come, your faculty can also send more students abroad. This makes your faculty more attractive to its own students. Therefore: Ask your faculty for support for Erasmus medicus projects.

2.) The national agencies for ERASMUS sometimes support local Erasmus initiatives - just ask your national agency. once again an example from EMSA Freiburg: They got recognized as a local ERASMUS initiative by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) which is the national agency for ErASMuS in Germany. This brought a nice amount of money to Freiburg. ERASMUS is part of the European Union Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) and the national Agencies for LLP can be found here: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/national_en.html

„Ask your faculty for support concerning Erasmus medicus projects.“

Financial support.

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Cooperation.

COOPERATIOn WITH OTHER ORGAnIzATIOnS

There are organizations caring for ErASMuS students, there are organizations specifically for medical students, but there is no one so far for medical ERASMUS students. However, cooperation with other organizations on this issue might be helpful.These three organizations might be the best for cooperation on Erasmus medicus:

ESn: Erasmus Student networkESn is a student organization fostering student mobility in higher education. They have 253 local section all over Europe and organize various events for ERASMUS students. http://www.esn.org/

iFMSA: international Federation of Medical Students‘ AssociationsiFMSA is famous for its international medical students‘ exchange program. local sections of iFMSA‘s member organizations care for incoming iFMSA-exchange students. Maybe there could be a cooperation on caring for incoming medical ERASMUS students? http://www.ifmsa.org/

AEGEE: Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de l‘EuropeAEGEE is a European student organization. Although its main focus isn‘t caring for ERASMUS students, some local sections of AEGEE organize projects for ERASMUS students. Maybe another possibility for cooperation? http://www.aegee.org/

ERASMUS MEDICUS E-GROUP

You want to organize Erasmus medicus events at your faculty and want to learn more about this project? You are already organizing Erasmus medicus events and want to share your experiences? In both cases, join the Erasmus medicus e-group!

Just send a blank e-mail to:erasmus-medicus-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Or register under:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/erasmus-medicus/

“Join the Erasmus medicus e-group!”

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Appendix.

©2011European Medical Students’ Associationc/o CPME Standing Committee of European DoctorsRue Guimard 15,1040 BrusselsBelgium

compilation:Simon RiederVice Prsident 2005-2006

layout:Ingmar RinasEMSA Public relations officer 2010-2011pr@emsa-europe.eu

EMSA Erasmus Medicus

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European Medical Students‘ Association

European Medical Students’ Associationc/o CPME Standing Committee of European DoctorsRue Guimard 15,1040 BrusselsBelgium

www.emsa-europe.eueeb@emsa-europe.eu