The Princess Royal has opened an international student centre at St George’s, University of London.

The INTO St George’s centre offers students from around the world the opportunity to study at St George’s with its rich history stretching back 250 years and supported by cutting-edge scientific discovery in the fields of heart disease, infection and population health.

The centre is a partnership between St George’s and INTO University Partnerships (INTO) that provides international students opportunities to progress on to undergraduate courses or postgraduate programmes. Students on the international medicine programmes at INTO St George’s study initially in London prior to spending up to two years on clinical placements in the United States; their programmes feature preparation for the US Medical Licensing Examination.

The Princess Royal, who is chancellor of the University of London, opened the centre. As she pulled the curtain to reveal the silver plaque, the Princess Royal thanked everyone for their warm welcome and said how much she had enjoyed meeting the students. “You must be doing something right to attract all these wonderful people,” she said amidst rapturous applause from the assembled students and staff.

Professor Peter Kopelman, principal at St George’s, said: “St George’s educational and research excellence is now complemented by INTO’s track record of success in ensuring international students have the greatest opportunities at universities worldwide."

“The new INTO St George’s centre is a step in a journey that will permit all of our students to experience health care from a global perspective, an experience that will undoubtedly provide benefit to their careers and, importantly, their future patients.”

Over 60 international students were among those gathered to see the Princess Royal.

Da Hyun Chung, from Seoul in South Korea, said: “I thought that the Princess would be speaking ‘royal’ English, but she was easy-going and I could feel how interested she was in what students think. It made me feel appreciated. It was a great honour - and was my first time to curtsey, and say ‘your royal highness. I was very excited - we became history!"

Another student who met The Princess Royal during her visit was Michelle Forde (pictured centre in photo gallery), who was born at St George’s Hospital and now studies physiotherapy at SGUL.

She said: “Meeting the Princess Royal in person was quiet different to how I expected. She was very friendly. It was nice that she was so interested in talking to us students and finding out more about all aspects of our university lives. I felt very proud.”

INTO chairman Andrew Colin, said: “You couldn’t help but be inspired by the sincerity and genuine interest shown by the Princess in the project here. She also seemed pleased by the variety of backgrounds and enthusiasms among the young people.

“She asked me how many partnerships we have, and if students would return home after studying to practice and I said they would. She was also interested in the use of learning technology and online learning and appreciated the need for organisations to co-operate in order to boost access to higher education.”

INTO St George’s centre director, Simon Fitch, added: “It was very exciting for both staff and students to welcome HRH The Princess Royal to open our completed centre. The amount of time spent with our student group was deeply appreciated and I enjoyed having quite a detailed discussion with her around our proposition. All in all a great day at St George's!”
If you have any questions please email Jameel Mushtaq  (m1000397@sgul.ac.uk) or Muaaz Tahir (mt2512@imperial.ac.uk).

Many thanks
Jameel and Muaaz
  
 
 

Dear Students,

I thought that you would appreciate knowing that free admission to The Courtauld Gallery (previously available to all full-time UK students) is now offered to all students, both national and international, full- and part-time. This includes admission to our temporary exhibitions as well as the permanent collection.

Our latest exhibition Court and Craft: A Masterpiece from Northern Iraq is now open and we have a Late Opening this Thursday with live Persian music, calligraphy, craft workshops, talks, and more.
 
 
Dear Finalists

We are a group of mainly North West Thames FY1s and will once again be holding a comprehensive but enjoyable 1 day course preparing final year medical students for their clinical exams. This course is open to students from all medical schools!

After feedback from our previous course we will be focusing even more on the common cases and signs that are likely to come up in the OSCE/PACES exams. We will also be paying particular attention on how to most effectively present a case and answer viva questions from examiners.

The stations that will be covered will include;

• Cardiology
• Respiratory
• Gastrointestinal
• Neurology
• Dermatology
• Rheumatology
• Endocrine
• Renal
• Radiology
• Surgery

86% of students from the last course felt more prepared for their finals and 96% would recommend to a friend!

When: Saturday, March 8th 8.30-18.00

Where: Drewe Lecture theatre, Reynolds Buidling, Charring Cross Hospital, Fulham Palace Rd, London W6 8RF

This is a free course and was hugely oversubscribed last time so reserve your place early to avoid disappointment.

To book a place on this course please contact fit4finals@gmail.com with your name, medical school and email address. Please also click attending on the Facebook event 
 
 
Student Midwife wanted for newborn babysitting
 
Hi there, I'm based in Tooting Broadway and recently had a baby at Georges. And the care was totally awesome, so thanks for that, first off! 
 
I'm a freelance writer and I need to go for meetings in town on occasion, write on others, generally I need a bit of time... So I'm looking for a student midwife who might want to earn a bit of extra cash on an ad hoc basis. I know your schedules are hectic, but I'm sure we could work something out! My baby is 5 weeks and really easy going. We have a nice flat, Sky TV, stocked fridge and excellent taste in biscuits. We need someone to come and hang out with our small man, caring for him at our place. This will likely be once a week at most to start with, but may become more.
 
Not asking for a regular commitment, but a "first port of call" when I need some help! £10 per hour


Isabel Fay
 
isabelfay@hotmail.co.uk