Standing Committee on Professional Exchange (SCOPE)

The Standing Committee On Professional Exchange (SCOPE) is the first created IFMSA Standing Committee. It constitutes the largest exchange program within IFMSA and it has been running since the organisation's foundation in 1951.

Brief history of SCOPE

A student exchange scheme was set up in 1951 by the Standing Committee on Professional Exchange (SCOPE), although the now-familiar common application form was introduced in 1968. In 1956, 11 countries and 906 students participated in SCOPE exchanges, while in 1957, 18 countries participated.

In 1958 the Committee On Transatlantic Exchange (COTE) was established to arrange exchanges between European and American medical students. In 1959 the detailed regulations of these exchanges were set up. Later on, this committee was incorporated into SCOPE.

In 1966, 35 countries participated in the SCOPE exchanges and by 1980 more than 3 000 students went on SCOPE exchange program. In 1990 the numbers were up to over 4 000 students from 39 different countries.

At the same time "Electives" were added to the normal range of clinical clerkships organized by SCOPE. In 1986 the Standing Committee on Elective Exchange (SCOEE) was founded, which in 1998 changed its name to the Standing Committee on Research Exchange (SCORE).

Nowadays 78 countries are involved in IFMSA SCOPE. In all these countries, there are 1003 Medical schools and 676 of them have IFMSA Local Committee.

The aim of SCOPE

The aim of SCOPE is to promote international understanding and co-operation amongst medical students and all health professionals through international exchange of students.

The exchange program offers students unique educational and cultural experience in addition to the regular medical curriculum. It also helps to broaden the students understanding of medical and social conditions in different countries.

Currently over 6 600 international exchanges are made every year, and 78 countries throughout the world are taking part in SCOPE.

The Professional Exchange is defined and regulated in the Standing Orders of SCOPE. A professional means an exchange of a medical student who undergo a medical practice in a hospital abroad. This practice, named clerkship, is purely educational for the student and he/she will not receive a salary for it.

The types of SCOPE clerkships

1) A Pre-clinical Clerkship: is defined as the stay of a student working or studying in a pre-clinical department at a medical faculty/school or hospital.

2) A Clinical Clerkship: is defined as the stay of a student in a clinical department of a hospital or clinic, or attached to a general practitioner.

Clerkships can be offered basically in all clinical and pre-clinical fields of medicine.

The duration of a clerkship is four weeks. Clerkships are given in English or in the language of the country.

Contracts among organizations, members of IFMSA, can be signed on bilateral or unilateral basis.

Bilateral contract

IFMSA member, participated in SCOPE is supposed to host student from another organization for free of charge. The student of hosted country will be also accepted free of charge to his/her desired country.

Bilateral exchanges are the basis of the IFMSA exchange program.

Unilateral contract

Only students from one organization will take part in the program. Special conditions may be specified in the contract form. Student should pay all expenses to the host organization.

For both bilateral and unilateral exchanges students should cover the insurance, travel expenses and pocket money by themselves.

At the end of the clerkship after fulfilling all exchange program's conditions, student will obtain the SCOPE Certificate.

Structure of a National Exchange Program

The basis for exchange is the bilateral exchange contracts that are signed on IFMSA's General Assembly in August between two National Exchange Officers of two different countries, IFMSA National Members Organisations. The contract will decide how many students, units, which will be exchanged during the coming year between the two countries.

The National Exchange Officer (NEO) is responsible for the exchange as a whole on both the national and international level. This means besides signing the bilateral exchange contracts, he/she administrates the application procedure for the students applying for a clerkship from the own country. He/she communicates with the other NEOs of information about acceptance of students for clerkship. The NEO is also the person who communicates with the local organising committee within his/her organization and takes care if exchange program is carried out according to the contract.

The Local Committee receives the exchange students. A local committee usually constitutes one medical school or faculty. Nowadays there are 676 Local committees involved in IFMSA activities. The actual exchange work is carried out here. The Local Exchange Officer (LEO) is in charge of arranging board and lodging for the incoming student, which it given to the student free of charge on a bilateral basis. It means that the students going from this country will be offered the same services for free when they are in their exchange country. The local committee also supplies the student with the appropriate contacts with a supervising doctor at the hospital for the rotation in the ward.

There are several other ways to accommodate the exchangees. Sometimes students live in student dormitories, doctors' homes or in ordinary families. In such cases the registration fee that the national exchange committee charges their outgoing students going abroad helps to cover the expenses that the local committee has for the incoming students.

The local committee is also responsible for arranging a social program for the exchange students. It is meant to help the exchangees to get acquainted with the hosting country, its traditions and cultures. The social program varies a lot depending on country, city and season.

Each organization participated in IFMSA SCOPE should have own Exchange conditions, describing organisation's SCOPE rules and conditions.

The IFMSA SCOPE Director, Vendula Novakova, would love to hear from you if you have any questions: scoped-at-ifmsa.org

MAKE A CHANGE, GO FOR EXCHANGE!