IBSA Foundation grants thirty scholarships to USI medical students

IBSA Foundation for Scientific Research has once again renewed its commitment in promoting medical studies at Università della Svizzera italiana. 30 scholarships were granted in Basel on Monday, 28 October to students enrolled in the first, second and third year of the Bachelor of Medicine carried out at Univeristy of Basel. The students will then attend their Master course at USI Faculty of Biomedical Sciences. The scholarships were awarded by the Director of the IBSA Foundation, Silvia Misiti, in the presence of professors from USI Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and the Dean Prof. Dr. med. Mario Bianchetti.

It has been one year since the Master of Medicine launched at USI, and the ties between the universities north and south of the Alps have already gotten stronger, not only with Basel. The advanced studies modules such as “Emergency Week” attended by students of ETH Zurich last month in Ticino, made it possible for future Master students to familiarise with the hospital environment of our region.  

The scholarships award ceremony was also an opportunity to illustrate the programme of the Master of Medicine at USI. In the words of Prof. Andreas Bircher, the Master course will focus on clinical practice and interaction with patients in hospitals and clinics of Ticino. Students will find themselves actively at the core of the learning processes and learn by doing. They will face concrete situations that a doctor is called to address in everyday practice.   

As the IBSA Foundation Director Silvia Misiti remarks, "the IBSA Foundation's commitment to supporting medical students underlines its intention to contribute to medical training at national level, and to foster the development of a scientific centre south of the Alps that communicates and interacts with other university research centres".

The Dean of the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences Prof. Dr. med. Mario Bianchetti, for his part, underlines the keyword for the Master of Medicine at USI, which is "proximity": the strong closeness between professors and students allows to create an environment of stimulating exchange, also fed by the constant dialogue with doctors and patients.