Welcome!

The 2010 AMSE conference will examine all aspects of the growing international agenda for medical schools.  There is a strong programme, and it promises to be a memorable meeting.

The opening speakers will examine the idea and the reality of internationalisation: why should medical schools think internationally; what does this mean in the wider societal role of medical schools, and of doctors generally; and what is the political drive – from the European Union and beyond.  

The authoritative opening team of speakers includes:

Stefan Lindgren (Lund and Copenhagen),

Professor Lindgren is President of the World Federation for Medical Education, and Professor of Medicine in the University of Lund.  His interests include the future global role of the doctor in health care, and the relationship between the work of the doctor and the social accountability of medicine and medical schools

Günter Stock (Berlin)

Professor Stock is a physician and physiologist, also with extensive experience in industry.  He is Vice President of the Max-Planck Society and President of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences.  He has extensive knowledge of the role of the medical school in wider society, including the international function, and the relationship to industry.

Maria da Graça Carvalho (Brussels)

Professor Graça Carvalho has a thirty-year research career, mainly in energy and climate change.  She is now a Member of the European Parliament, and a member of the influential Committee on Industry, Research and Energy.  Before joining the Parliament she was advisor to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in the areas of science, higher education, innovation, research policy, energy, environment and climate change.

We then move on to examine the realities of international programmes today, including the benefits and problems of student exchange; the management of overseas campuses; common standards in education, research and research training; and many related topics.  We expect speakers from many European countries as well as South Africa, the Middle East and Far East, and Australia.

The closing session will look further at the vision for the future of medical schools in an increasingly open world.  Speakers from the United States of America will looks at ways to facilitate interaction between Europe and America, and to develop common values.  We will look at the opportunities and limitations in measuring internationalisation.  Finally, as the borders of Europe grow wider, we will hear from the Rector of a medical university from the former Soviet Union about the imperative necessity of internationalisation for the development of all of Europe, and we will understand the vision of our students for a more inclusive and collaborative world, for the benefit of all.