Many aspiring medical students are heading to Europe in pursuit of studying graduate entry medicine. Securing a seat at medical university in the UK has become increasingly more competitive. The competition is fierce with the requirements being extremely high, combined with extortionate tuition fees.
British students are opting for more accessible routes into the 4-year medical courses abroad. One of the most popular accelerated medical programmes have been at Dnipro Medical Institute in Ukraine. The university offers an English taught medical programme. This is tailored toward international students who hold a Bachelor's degree in a Science related subject.
The majority of applicants are British students with degrees from Science and Health-related disciplines. Some of the aspiring doctors are currently workings as Scientists, Nurses and Physician Associates.
We spoke to one of the expert graduate doctors from Europe about students going abroad to pursue medicine. Dr Sam El mais said "Many professionals want to upgrade their careers. Most are not happy because they feel limited in the amount of care they can provide. So they come to us for opportunities to study fast-track courses of medicine to provide better care for their patients.
The majority are drawn to Dnipro Medical Institute because it has a big population of satisfied British students; it's a well-established university and offers fantastic clinical experience."
As I walked across the campus I noticed the grand structures in Dnipro. The university has a lot of history and was founded by a female doctor in 1993.
Dnipro seemed like a lively and vibrant city in Ukraine. It offers many amenities, modern malls, restaurants, and beautiful structures. I was interested to hear of the city being referred to as the "Education Hub of Ukraine" due to it being home to 13 other universities such as the University of Finance, University of Engineering and Police Academy. The combination of students from all over the world studying all sorts of courses was fascinating to see.
I met up with Ahmed Khan from Birmingham, UK. Ahmed is a final-year medical student who joined Dnipro Medical Institute 3 years ago. He said "I've really enjoyed the four-year course here. It's a unique opportunity to study medicine abroadand I definitely advise everyone to give it a go, even though it might seem scary at first."
After Ahmed finishes his final year he'll be eligible to apply to work in the UK. He explains "Many of my friends in the older years have returned back to the UK successfully. So I feel reassured and confident about returning as a doctor back home. I know that the General Medical Council in the UK highly values the course at Dnipro Medical Institute due to the extraordinary number of UK graduates returning every year."
I spoke to more European students who chose to pursue the course in Dnipro. Many of them are students from Great Britain, Ireland and Germany. The general consensus was that the course was diverse, the teachers were passionate and the clinical experience was thorough. With Dnipro Medical Institute seeming like such an attractive destination for graduate entry medicine, will other European medical universities be able to compete?
