How to participate in SCOPE

Participation in the IFMSA Professional Exchange Program is open to medical students who must be members of one of our National Member Organizations.

If you would like to apply for the IFMSA Professional Exchange Program you must apply through your National Member Organization.

Check the National Member Organization list. If you are from a country where IFMSA is already represented, you should contact that organisation. Please contact your Local/National Exchange Officer who will provide you with all necessary information how to apply for IFMSA Professional Exchange Program.

If your country is not represented there...maybe you want to be the first one to create a medical students organizations and apply for IFMSA membership. In that case, contact the IFMSA Secretary General and he will inform you on the procedures and also address you to IFMSA Newcomers Task Force.

The IFMSA Professional Exchange Program is not open to graduates, young doctors or doctors.

The IFMSA SCOPE Director Vendula Novakova would love to hear from you if you have any questions. (contact her)

A basic IFMSA Professional Exchange calendar

This is a basic calendar you can use to orientate yourself in the SCOPE year. This calendar is based on the European academic year. Please, check with your Local Committee for all the deadlines and the necessary documents.

September - early January: Time for Local Committees to advertise the Clerkship programs. During this time the Local Exchange Officers (LEO) also select the students to send abroad. Please check with your National Association about the criteria and the exact time of selections. Most probably you will be asked to show your knowledge of a foreign language (English but also some others), to ask the university for some certificates, to take some pictures...

January - February: Usually a quiet period for students, since LEOs and NEOs work on your documents to send abroad. Please have all the papers ready by the beginning of February as they will be needed to be sent to your host country.

March: Early in March all the NEOs get together for an international meeting (IFMSA March Meeting). During this meeting the Application Forms market is done. This means that your NEO arrives at IFMSA March meeting with a pile of Outgoing AFs, and returns home with a pile of Incoming AFs.

April - June: During these months your NEO and LEO are working to settle incoming students. The result of their work will be the Card of Acceptance (CA). At the same time another NEO and another LEO are working on your Application documents. Depending on when you will start your Clerkship you will receive the Card of Acceptance (CA). This is the period when most of them are issued and sent from the "incoming" NEO to the "outgoing" NEO.

June - July: You prepare for the Clerkship. By this time you should have received the CA. As you can easily check, you have to fill in a Card of Confirmation (CC) and send back to the hosting Local Committee. Pay attention to the deadline!

August: There is the IFMSA General Assembly (GA) here the main part of the contracts for next exchange year are signed.

Responsibilities of an exchange student

All the exchange students are responsible for their own actions while attending the Clerkship in the host country. The students must also abide by all the rules that the Local Committee and the LEO (Local Exchange Officer) set up for the Clerkship. The local committee has a contract signed with the exchangees upon arrival, the SCOPE Rules Form, to make sure that the students are aware of the conditions under which the exchange is carried out. It can be simple things like cleaning up the room after the clerkship's end, as well as working hours at the hospital etc.

It is very important that you are aware of the time period of exchange. The exchangee must arrive within the first four days after the start of the Clerkship or it will no longer be guaranteed. If you plan to arrive later due to logistical problems, then you should notify the local committee well in advance. You are also obliged to stay for the whole period of exchange if no other agreement has been made with the LEO.

At the hospital the exchange students must always follow the instructions of the supervising doctor. He/she will determine what the exchangee should be allowed to do and perform during his/her stay in the department. The working conditions for the students will differ a lot from department to department and country to country. The hospitals have different rules when it comes to allowing students to participate surgery for example, due to their insurance policies, general rules at the departments etc. Your behaviour will of course also have a great impact on how much you will be allowed to perform. The more responsible and interested impression you give to the doctors the more interested they will be in engaging you in patient activities.

If the rules of the LEO and the supervising doctor are not followed, the exchange student has no right to continue the Clerkship any longer. The LEO has the right to send you back home without compensating you for any of the extra expenses that you might have. It's important therefore that you are aware of all the rules and their importance since the consequences of breaking them can be serious. Another consequence of not following the regulations in the local committee is that the LEO can deny you your SCOPE Certificate, which means that you won't have any official proof of participating in the exchange.

Exchange students are responsible for their own health and well-being in the host country in case of an accident or other problems.

To avoid these difficulties as much as possible the NMO (National Member Organization) exchange conditions often states that the exchange students must have valid health insurance to be able to attend the Clerkship. Some countries also demand a malpractice insurance for the exchange before allowing the exchangee to attend the hospital. If health insurance is asked for attending the Clerkship it is up to the student to arrange it before arriving at the local committee. If in some rare cases malpractice insurance is needed to participate in the work at the hospital, then the NEO (National Exchange Officers) in the host country should help the incoming exchange student to arrange it either through direct contact with him/her or through the other NEO.

To sum up:

General Exchangee's regulations

The Exchangee should present the Card of Acceptance to the person in charge upon arrival to the host country.

The Exchangee is obliged to attend the Clerkship for its whole duration.

The Exchangee must strictly follow all the instructions given by the department and the Local Committee. Failure to do so may result in cancellation of the remaining clerkship and losing all his/her rights without compensating for any of the extra expenses that exchangee might have.

Exchangee should arrive the first day of the Clerkship, and never later than 3 days after the commencement of the Clerkship. If failing to do so, and do not informing the Local Committee about it, the Clerkship is no longer guaranteed. The dates are defined on the Card of Acceptance.

When accepting the clerkship, the Exchangee guarantees by sending the Card of Confirmation to arrive on the date agreed upon with the Local Committee of the hosting organization. Any change or delay must be reported and agreed upon with the Local Committee of the hosting organisation.

The Exchangee is responsible for his/her own health/liability insurance. The insurance has to be arranged by the Exchangee before leaving his/her country. The Exchangee is responsible for paying any costs in case of illness or accident.

The Exchangee shall be responsible for any financial loss caused by any breach of his/her contract that he/she effects.

The Exchangee has to show the adequate knowledge of English language or the native language of the host country or the language agreed upon in order to carry out the clerkship, otherwise he/she can be refused in the host country and excluded from exchange program.

The Exchangee must return the Card of Confirmation no later than one month before the beginning of the clerkship. If it is not received, the NMO has the right to cancel his/her clerkship.

In case the hosting NMO is not fulfilling its obligations towards the Exchangee, the student is obliged to discuss the problems with the Local Committee and the tutor first, and to inform his/her own Local/National Exchange Officer immediately.

No additional costs can be raised from the Exchangee in the host country unless indicated in the Exchange Conditions.

The Exchangee must abide by the SCOPE regulations or the exchangee will be rejected upon arrival or during the course of the Professional Exchange Program.

There are special Exchange Conditions for each country (which you can find here). Please consult it with your Local/National Exchange Officer.