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On 18 April, 45 medical students from Utrecht University visited RSU as part of their study trip to Latvia. The main purpose of the visit was to learn about the Vactrain project coordinated by RSU.

Vactrain aims to strengthen research at Rīga Stradiņš University in the area of smart specialisation, i.e. “bio-medicine, medical technologies, and biotechnologies” with special emphasis on the immunotherapy of cancer by establishing a close cooperation with two leading international research institutions – the Institute of Microbiology, Tumour and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) and the Department of General Biophysics, University of Lodz (Poland). For more information about the project, visit the Vactrain website.

After a general presentation about the university, the visiting students were impressed to learn about the level of internationalisation at RSU. Yara van Boven shared her impressions noting that, “As soon as we entered the building we noticed that all signs are in English and there are multiple different languages spoken. Subsequently we learned that almost 25 % of the total number of RSU students are international – this was an even bigger surprise!”

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A presentation on Vactrain project activities, cancer research methods and outcomes was given by several researchers involved in the project:

  • Maria Issagouliantis, Project Coordinator
  • Stefan Petkov, Work Package 5 Leader
  • Juris Jansons, Leading Researcher
  • Laura Hippe, Trainee

The Dutch students highly appreciated the contents of the lecture and recognised it as an interesting experience as compared to what has been seen in the Netherlands. Another student Samantha Herreweegh admitted that it was encouraging to learn about the involvement of young researchers and to participate in the evaluation of results.

The visit was closed with a meeting with representatives of the RSU International Students Association and RSU medical students from the Netherlands, which was a great opportunity to learn about differences in the study process in both countries.

The visit was organised by RSU International Department in cooperation with the Development and Project Department.