New dimensions of collaboration between ”Nicolae Testemitanu” State University of Medicine and Pharmacy and Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, Romania

Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy was visited by a delegation of Dunarea de Jos University of Galati (UDJG), Romania, led by Rector Puiu Lucian Georgescu, on May 21, 2021. The action is part of the program of the two-day official visit of Galati delegation to the Republic of Moldova with the aim to renew collaboration agreements with universities across the Prut River and establish new dimensions of cooperation with relevant institutions of the country.

During a meeting with the administrative team of Nicolae Testemitanu University, UDJG Rector Puiu Lucian Georgescu mentioned, that he was in favor of expanding inter-institutional collaboration and diversification, because the geographical distance between us is very small, and at the same time we had a good collaboration at national and international level. "At Galati University for 15 years has been operating a faculty of medicine and pharmacy - a faculty with significant dynamics and over 2 thousand students. You are a well-known prestigious university and I believe that the institutional relations and, then, the ones that will derive from them will be advantageous to both institutions", the guest has remarked.

In turn, Alexandru Nechifor, vice-rector for strategies and institutional relations at UDJG, said that the Faculty of Medicine in Galati was relatively young, but with an accelerated dynamics, specifying that medicine had a future and the number of those who wanted to apply for this career was growing. "It is time to resume this institutional collaboration and expand it onto the clinical dimension and inter-institutional relations, first and foremost, for the cultural and emotional rapprochement between the two countries and institutions, we are open to any form of cooperation", he added.

After an interesting digression about the history of the University, Emil Ceban, rector of Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, made a general presentation of the institution and its infrastructure: "At the recent meeting of the Council for Institutional Strategic Development, the draft Institutional Development Strategy for the next 10 years has been examined, to be approved at the next meeting of the University Senate, which also envisages the development of research and internationalization, so we have much in common and we share the same interests in this regard”. Professor Ceban showed his willingness to strengthen the partnership with UDJG, emphasizing that together, we would be stronger, and the results of bilateral collaboration could help increase the quality of medical education and research as well as the rating of both institutions.

The parties focused on identifying areas for collaboration in terms of exchanging experience and good practice in medical sciences. In this context, the Romanian side proposed signing a new collaboration agreement in the fields of education and research, based on the common affinities of collaboration between the Cross-Border Faculty of UDJG and the Pre-University Training Center of Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, which intends to develop a partnership. Commitment to strengthening the ties in the fields of education and research signifies cooperation as regards education and refresher training of human resources, inter-institutional collaboration, mutual promotion of cultural and scientific events, exchange of publications of common interest, academic mobility, etc.

The UDJG delegation also included Gina Necula, the dean of the Cross-Border Faculty, and Georgiana Ciobotaru, the director of Our Language Linguistic Center.

The collaboration agreement between Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy and Dunarea de Jos University of Galati for the first time was signed on December 10, 2008 and renewed in March 2018.