Prospects for creating a double diploma in medicine have been discussed at St Petersburg University

The meeting was attended by: Sergey Andryushin, Deputy Rector for International Affairs; Mikhail Kudilinsky, Vice-Rector for Economic Development; and Raul Gainetdinov, Director of the Institute of Translational Biomedicine, St Petersburg University.

Harbin Medical University is a public institution of higher education located in the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China. The university was founded in 1926 on the basis of a medical school in the city of Xingshan.

Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University, expressed appreciation for the visit and reminded that Harbin University is a long-time partner of St Petersburg University. The universities implement joint projects in such areas as infectious pathology, autoimmunity, cardiology, endemic diseases, pharmacology, oncology, and translational medicine. One of the most important completed projects is the creation of a scientific laboratory - a joint centre of biomedicine. The decision to update the joint work plan was taken after the inauguration of the Rector of Harbin Medical University, Zhang Xue.

One of the proposals by the Russian party was to create “double diploma” programmes in English.

The medical field of study is now very important for us. So, we are ready to implement such programmes in general medicine as well as in dental medicine.

Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University

Zhang Xue agreed that it is the programme in English that will help to attract the maximum number of students not only from Russia and China, but also from other countries.

Nikolai Kropachev mentioned the possible construction of a joint clinic with a capacity of 700 beds in St Petersburg as another important stage of cooperation.  If such a project is implemented successfully, it will make it possible to combine Russian and Chinese medical science and higher education achievements. The methods of diagnosis, treatment, advanced technologies and practical experience accumulated by doctors of the two countries will also be united.

Zhang Xue said that doctoral students and clinical residency students from Russia are already studying at the University, but there are not very many of them. Nikolay Kropachev suggested that mutual academic exchange could be expanded. The oldest university of Russia is ready to send more students from St Petersburg who are studying ‘General Medicine’ and ‘Dental Medicine’ to Harbin and to host students from abroad.

If I could choose where to study, I would choose St Petersburg University.

Zhang Xue, Rector of Harbin Medical University

Nikolay Kropachev also invited Chinese colleagues to think about creating two symmetrical programmes with a foreign component: to study Chinese medicine and the Chinese language at St Petersburg University, and vice versa in Harbin.

This will increase cooperation with Russian scientists and the application for mega grants, and create joint publications. “I am sure that such a movement towards each other will result in a major breakthrough in a few years,” Nikolay Kropachev said. He noted that five years ago about 50 students studied the Chinese language at the University, mainly in the oriental fields of study. Now, this number has increased tenfold. This has been achieved by creating programmes with a Chinese component: law, economics, management, tourism, and many others. At present, there are already more than 20 such programmes.

At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed to discuss the proposals in more detail with the governor of Heilongjiang Province on 10 April 2019 during his visit to St Petersburg University. Zhang Xue emphasised that he was pleased with getting acquainted with the University, his visit to St Petersburg, and the emerging prospects for cooperation.