CHALLENGES FOR THE TRAINING OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS THROUGH INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to summarize the experience of the participants in the collaboration for international training of health professionals, find out the challenges and learn lessons about the perspectives of similar partnerships in Bulgaria, and more specifically, in Medical University “Prof. Paraskev Stoyanov” of Varna (MU-Varna). Material and methods: A good practice for academic networking in the field of public health and nursing care of the international public health partnership is analysed. The partnership combines teaching activities at a local level and distantly in order to encourage the collaborative teaching and learning. The activities at a local level include summer schools, workshops and seminars and are associated with exchange and face-to-face communication between students and teachers. Results: The development and the maintenance of successful and sustainable international partnerships is difficult, time and resource consuming. The challenges associated with them result from the diversity of the participating partners in terms of cultural, political, geographical and economic context. The human, structural and information technology resources are available at MU-Varna together with experience in negotiations and intercultural dialogue. The comparative analysis suggests that similar partnerships can be applied by other universities with the relevant experience and resources at hand for the provision of training for different health professionals. Conclusion: The lessons of the international public health network have considerable implications for the future training partnerships at medical universities. MU-Varna is prepared to take part in such trainings with partner universities and institutions in order to enhance the international cooperation for academic training in the fields of public health and nursing care through university partnerships