Round Table "Results of Educational Visits to European Countries within the Framework of the UNICOM Project and Creation of the Public Health Center at VNMU"

On May 16, 2024, in the co-working center of the library of National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsya as part of the Erasmus+ "UNICOM" project "Universities - communities: strengthening cooperation", a meeting of students, teachers with project team took place. The meeting was held in a mixed format, in particular in the online mode, the meeting was joined by the project coordinator Diana Spulber, who addressed the audience with a welcoming speech, the deputy director of the City Department for Strategic Planning and Development of Health Care Nataliia Korobchynska, as well as the project coordinator at VNMU Oleg Vlasenko and project managers Ruslana Kharkovenko and Olga Drachuk.

The round table was dedicated to discussing the results of study visits to European countries and plans for future activities. Inspector of the international department and project participant Nataliia Horbenko spoke about the experience gained during the last study visit to the city of Riga, where representatives of the consortium of Ukrainian universities took part in a series of trainings offered by the University of Latvia, dedicated to the study of the mechanisms of interaction between the university and the community on the way to their sustainable development, in particular in the aspect of economic growth of communities and access to education. Also during the visit to Riga, the 82nd International Scientific Conference "Sustainable Universities - Sustainable Society" was held, where delegates from our university - project participants presented a report on the university's achievements in strengthening the interaction between the university community and the community.

Associate Professor of the Department of General Hygiene and Ecology and project participant Olga Bratkova talked about plans to create a Public Health Center in the near future, which will function to create and expand interaction between the university and the general public. The concept of the future center was presented for discussion, after which the participants of the meeting were given the opportunity to express their own opinions on this matter. In particular, another project participant, professor of the Department of Pharmacy, Victoria Rodinkova, made some constructive suggestions. During the communication, the main directions of the future work of the Public Health Center, the expediency of involving active youth in cooperation, and the prospects of the center's operation were determined.

The closing speech were from the Deputy Director of the City Department for Strategic Planning and Health Care Development, Nataliia Korobchynska, who noted the importance of the university's third mission, which is to expand relationships with the community, which will definitely be facilitated by the creation of the Public Health Center, and expressed readiness to cooperate with our university regarding the considered issues of interaction between the university and the community.

Project working group