History of international academic mobility of students in higher medical education institutions of Ukraine

The article summarizes the experience of Ukraine’s participation in international academic mobility on the example of undergraduate higher medical education. Analysis of the archival documents in the second half of the 20th century revealed two types of student exchange programs: introductory internships on the basis of clinical and medical institutions of Ukraine and European countries, under the guidance of an international group of teachers; labor introductory practice – exchange of student construction teams who got acquainted with the health care system of the host country and worked in hospitals and medical camps during the summer holidays. From the beginning of the 21st century, international mobility students in the Ukrainian medical universities (undergraduate medical education) have been studying at the following programs: 1) educational practice based on interuniversity cooperation agreements; 2) student exchanges organized by the International Federation of Medical Students Associations; 3) interuniversity international agreements on long-term (with credit transfer) and short-term exchange programs. The number of these students at the level of undergraduate medical education is increasing, but insignificantly compared to foreign students from Europe, Asia, Africa who receive undergraduate medical education on a permanent basis (as of 2018 – more than 23 thousand). Based on the obtained results, the general positive prospects and directions of the development of international academic mobility of medical students in Ukraine are determined: 1) short-term Ukrainian and European international student exchanges, which allow to increase their level of motivation to study, develop individual educational trajectories, expand their level of competence in the field of health care system of different countries; 2) expansion of the semester programs of student academic mobility taking into account the availability of educational programs in English in Ukraine and its lower cost compared to European universities, promising for both “EU students” and “non-EU students” of European universities, who: а) want to expand their experience and competence in the provision of medical services at the primary and secondary levels of health care and the pre-medical sphere; b) study medical management in the field of health care in different countries; c) have problems with tuition fees. Keywords: international academic mobility, undergraduate medical education, student exchange programs.