Working to improve global health
Working to improve global health
The Faculty International Unit has broad responsibility for coordinating activities to enhance the faculty's international profile and support overseas students.
In addition to enrolling around 1400 international students each year on campus, we maintain strong international engagement with a range of medical and allied health partners, designed to support both national and institutional capacity-building goals.
In terms of medicine, for instance, our leased MBBS curriculum supports the development of undergraduate medical degrees in Malaysia (Universiti Teknologi Mara), Brunei Darussalam (Universiti Brunei Darussalam) and Australia (University of Western Sydney).
Our Bachelor of Nursing Science degree is the basis of a new nursing degree program in Indonesia (Universitas Pelita Harapan), while a jointly taught University of Melbourne-National University of Singapore Masters of Clinical Psychology degree is now open to Singaporean students.
We have developed unique biomedical multimedia materials which are leased by a wide range of institutions across Asia and the Middle East (most recently Taif University in Saudi Arabia). These arrangements are supported by strong institutional partnerships, with ongoing engagement by University of Melbourne academics in staff development, curriculum adaptation, and multimedia skills at host universities.
Supporting this commitment to global work, we have developed strong cohort agreements designed to address urgent regional workforce shortages in medicine and allied health fields, underpinned by scholarship body agreements.
Examples include annual intakes into the full Melbourne medical degree from Malaysia (Kolej Mara Banting) and Botswana (University of Botswana); lateral entry into the clinical medicine training years following three years of preliminary training in Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam (International Medical University and Universiti Brunei Darussalam); and advanced medical science research training for Indonesian medical students (Universitas Indonesia).
The majority of cohort agreements are supported by home country scholarships. On graduation alumni work in under-supplied health workforce regions for sustained periods of time. The University of Melbourne has an ongoing commitment to contributing to Asian/African workforce supply on this basis.
Our School of Population Health is the choice of around 70 students per year for postgraduate public health training - the majority AusAid funded, but derived from a wide range of Asian, African, North American and European source countries. Those holding scholarships typically work in primary health care or health system management - requiring training in the tools of public health to support systems governance (including a capacity for health program evaluation, epidemiology and biostatistics).
A growing range of our courses are delivered overseas.
Examples include short course training programs delivered by the School of Physiotherapy (Asian and Middle East) including sports medicine; distance-delivery of the Psychiatry Department's Masters Degree in International Mental Health (co-taught to global participants by the University of Melbourne and Harvard University); cross-Asia delivery of a range of training programs in Geriatric Psychiatry to upgrade clinicians (Psychiatry Department in association with National University of Singapore); delivery of epidemiology and women's health short courses by the School of Population Health (eg in Indonesia) and provision of Medical Education training (by the Medical Education Unit, for example in Malaysia).
Such programs are negotiated with international partners on an individual basis.
To support this international engagement and elicit information on future needs, we host a wide range of international delegations from global sources annually, tailoring school-specific programs and visits to all relevant Parkville sites (including our affiliated research institutes, Bio21 and partner hospitals).
The Nossal Institute for Global Health is our hub of expertise and knowledge in global health. The institute is committed to making a difference to global health practice, learning and research and blends the best of science with the best of public health. The Nossal Institute encompasses all the programs and resources of the Australian International Health Institute.
We have a strong history of response to global health crises, most recently through the provision of forensic dentistry, paediatric and psychiatric support to Indonesia and Sri Lanka following the December 2004 Asian tsunami.