Biomedical sciences students outside the Louis Pasteur Institute Museum in Paris. Photo: JEN DUNCAN
TWENTY-one students from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) school of biomedical sciences have recently spent three weeks visiting world-renowned educational, research and medical facilities in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Switzerland.
The European trip aimed to broaden students’ awareness of international health and science issues. The group visited diverse sites including the London School of Pharmacy, the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Nestle Research Institute in Lausanne, the Max Planck Institute in Munich and the Louis Pasteur Institute and CERN European Organisation for Nuclear Research in Paris.
Five pharmacy students from Orange were among the travellers.
“The aspect of the trip that I found most valuable was the chance to make new contacts overseas in the same industry and to expand my knowledge of the international issues faced in science,” said Vanessa Ward, while fellow fourth-year student Jen Duncan has been encouraged by her experience at the WHO to consider postgraduate study in public health.
“The trip provided a fantastic opportunity to learn about how pharmacy is practised in different parts of the world. I really enjoyed sharing this experience with like-minded students from the biomedical science cohort as we were all keen to take the things we have learnt and apply these lessons to advancing the practice of pharmacy in Australia,” reported third-year student Tracy Samimi.
The tour was supported by CSU Global, a university initiative to give students the opportunity to experience the world through a broad range of international study experiences.