St Petersburg University branch in Cairo to help reduce the shortage of medical personnel in the region

The delegation included: Sergey Andryushin, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of St Petersburg University; Piotr Yablonsky, Vice-Rector for Medical Activities; Ivan Pchelin, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University; and Aleksandr Babich, Senior Vice-Rector for Youth Policy and Admissions.

As part of the visit, the delegation had the opportunity to examine the instrumentation base, which will be used to organise the work of the branch. The University representatives also held consultations on the localisation of academic programmes with representatives of the Modern University for Technology and Information (MTI University), which belongs to the Modern Group of Companies, a partner of St Petersburg University.

Five programmes are currently planned for implementation in Egypt: General Medicine; Nursing; Dental Medicine; Pharmacy; and Physical Therapy.

They also discussed the timing of the project launch and making necessary adjustments to the St Petersburg University curricula in order to adapt them to the needs of the regional educational market.

The visit made it possible to assess the capabilities of the University’s Egyptian partner to equip the future branch with the equipment necessary to implement the academic programmes of St Petersburg University. The renovation of the building in which the teaching and learning process will take place is in its final stages. In the near future, the Modern Group also plans to acquire two more buildings for this purpose in the heart of Cairo. One of the academic buildings will be located next door to one of the largest hospitals in the Egyptian capital, which will be one of the clinical bases of the future branch of St Petersburg University.

Waleed Mohammad Nabil Daabas, General Director of the Modern Group, told the representatives of the University that his company has signed an agreement with the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population to use also other hospitals as clinical bases for the branch of St Petersburg University. Waleed Daabas estimates that the number of applicants wishing to study medicine is very high, both in the Arab Republic of Egypt and in other Middle Eastern countries. The new educational institution will be able to meet the shortage of medical staff in the region.

This is another big step in the development of the internationalisation of St Petersburg University as well as the export of Russian education and the educational services of the University, which is fully in line with the objectives set by the President and the Government of the Russian Federation.

Sergey Andryushin, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of St Petersburg University

According to Professor Piotr Yablonsky, Vice-Rector for Medical Activities at St Petersburg University and Honorary Citizen of St Petersburg, adaptation of the University’s curricula to the specificities of the region is necessary to implement the training of future doctors at the highest level. ‘The working group that I head is currently working at a rapid pace to adjust the already licensed academic programmes of St Petersburg University,’ he said. Piotr Yablonsky separately noted that the Egyptian partners would like to see their applicants as students at the Russian branch as early as autumn 2023. In order to meet their expectations, quite a lot of work needs to be done. Particular attention should be paid to the development of new academic programmes planned for the branch: Pharmacy and Physical Therapy.