International students in higher education medical institutions in ukraine: current state of play and prospects

Abstract

The present study explores current state of play of international medical student population in Ukraine. Their number in national medical universities has been constantly rising since 2006. Ukraine is a country of international medical students’ destination for higher medical or pharmaceutical education. Ukraine is not only one of the biggest suppliers of international students to the European Union in European Higher Education Area, but it is also a host country for international students primarily from Asia and Africa. The survey aimed at studying international medical students’ current needs and perspectives was conducted at Bogomolets National Medical University in 2019. The university is chosen as it is situated in the capital city. Sample was composed of 60 first-year international medical students, chosen at a random. It allowed students to provide feedback on their country of origin, educational background, preferences, satisfaction in quality of educational service in a host country, ways of financing the study and future career plans. Among the reasons of international students’ choice of Ukraine as a place for study are their preference of the country, high quality education, friends’ advice and geographical location. The research results show that international medical students consider Ukraine not only as high quality medical education provider but as perspective country for postgraduate employment. The research results allow us to hypothesise that the current needs and perspectives of international medical students at one medical university are likely to be typical for other national medical universities and for Ukraine in whole. It is concluded, that increasing international students’ population requires regular monitoring and special researches by universities and government. These measures will make benefits in international university strategy and national educational policy coordination