On July 1-2, 2014, within the framework of the TEMPUS project “MUMEENA” an International Conference “Celebrating Achievements and Looking to the Future of Medical Education in Eastern Europe” will be held at Tbilisi State Medical University.

MUMEENA is the three-year EU-funded Tempus Project "Modernization of undergraduate medical education in the EU's Eastern Neighboring Countries", which has been implemented since 2011. At the end of the Conference the final outcomes were summed up.

In the Conference participated: Ms Tamar Sanikidze Minister of Education and Science Georgia, Dimitri Makhatadze  Deputy Minister of Labor, Healthcare and Social Protection,  Dr. Lika Glonti  Head of National ERASMUS+ Office (Georgia), the delegations from all of the partner countries implementing the project: The Conference will be attended by all partner Universities involved in project implementation: University of Leeds (Great Britain), Utrecht University (the Netherlands), Granada University (Spain), Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore  (Italy), Ivano-Frankovsk  National Medical University (Ukraine), O.Bohomolets National Medical University (Ukraine), Baku and Nakhichevan Medical Universities (Azerbaijan), Tbilisi State  Medical  University and  I. Javakhishvili State University (Georgia), the representatives of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health and the international organizations (USAID Georgia, JSI), TSMU administrative and academic staff, students. The Conference was chaired by Professor Trudie Roberts, coordinator of the project, President of the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE), Director of Medical Education Institute at Leeds University.

The conference audience was welcomed and addressed by Prof. Zurab Vadachkoria. He noted the significant achievements of the University in the field of medical education. Professor Trudie Roberts talked about the successful implementation of the project, emphasizing the important contributions of Tbilisi State Medical University. According to her  MUMEENA team is ready to continue collaboration with the partner universities and think on development of  a new project in future.

As it was said at the conference, the main role in the project was performed by the Tbilisi State Medical University. Every scheduled task was piloted here. Project Tbilisi State Medical University was founded Academic Development Center, where since 2011, regularly being university staff trained medical methodology, introduced in case-based clinical reasoning course of study in the third year students, set up scientific skills - skills center and a training course, developed by the Faculty of Medicine of innovative, integrated curriculum. The introduction of new methods of teaching and evaluation of project implementation and dramatically increased at Tbilisi State Medical University.

Within the frames of the project there were:  founded Academic Development Center at Tbilisi State Medical University, where since 2011, the training on medical methodology of University staff is conducted regularly; introduced case-based clinical reasoning course of study for the third year students, established scientific skills center and developed  training course, developed innovative, integrated curriculum for  the Faculty of Medicine. Project realization and implementation of new methods for teaching and evaluation.

Project implementation and introduction of new teaching and assessment methods strictly increased the ranking of the Tbilisi State Medical University. About the project results the reports were provided by:  Professors Gaiane Simonia (Tbilisi State Medical University), Nino Chikhladze (I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University), Harima Gabulova and Anar Kazimov (Baku and Nakhichevan Medical Universities), Marina Mruga and Gennady Strutinski (Kyiv and Ivano – Frankovsk Medical Universities).

Two workshops held during the conference drew a particular interest of attendees: "The integrated curriculum, outcomes and future perspectives" and "Lerner-centered teaching approaches." The workshops were  led by the experts of medical education: Professors Olle Ten Cate, Utrecht University and Anne-Marie Reid, University of Leeds.  Within the conference, Student Scientific Conference led by Professor Louisa Gabunia (Head of the Center of Research Skills at TSMU) was held that was evaluated by Jose Peinado, University of Granada (Spain) and Professor Federica Wolf (University Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy). The closing conference outlined a plan for the future.