The University Agency of the Francophonie (AUF) visited the Office of the Vice-Chancellor of International Affaris at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences
On Tuesday, April 24, 2018, Mr. Jean-Paul de Guadmar, the rector of AUF and Mr. Hervé Sabourin regional director of the Middle East, accompanied by Mr. Jean-Christophe Bonté, the technical and scientific attaché of the Embassy of France had an appointment with Dr. Mehrdad Faizi the Vice-Chancellor of International Affairs. As part of this meeting, the members of the Association of French-Speaking Iranian Physicians including their President Dr. Iraj Shamloo, Dr. Tonkaboni and Dr. Mirdamadi were also present.
AUF officials briefly presented the major activities and challenges of their organization. This agency is active in 111 countries and has members in 850 universities, which includes a fairly broad network of members with a significant geographical diversity and both academic streams. They cited the challenges of the academic world including the increase in the total number of students, the difficulty of finding work after finishing their studies and the inefficiency of educational level in most universities. Active for 4 years in Iran, they have shown the will to develop opportunities for collaboration in all academic and medical sciences specifically. As a result, the inauguration of the Franco-Iranian Scientific Cooperation Office (IFSCO) at SBUMS can greatly facilitate the solidification of academic relations with the French-speaking universities of the world and the AUF is ready to play the role of facilitator in this context.
The president of the association of French-speaking Iranian doctors thanked for the efforts made and also presented the capacity of his association for future collaborations.
Given the objectives defined by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education for the internationalization of universities and the development of academic relations with foreign countries, Dr. Faizi highlighted a few points on IFSCO's activities as a whole. Including the signature of the memorandum of understanding with the University of Paris 5 (René Descartes) and the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, the joint seminars with the presence of the professors invited from France, and the participation of 13 Iranian emergency doctors in a short-term internship in France, which was supported by the French Embassy. After describing the university's capacity for collaboration with the AUF, he showed his willingness to launch these activities through academic exchanges as a first step.
At the end of this meeting, the French sides gave their initial agreement for the accession of the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, the first medical university in Iran, to the AUF program and were very optimistic for the continuation of the collaborations. The structure of an office for learning the French language and possibly training in French on the premises of the university and contacting French-speaking universities throughout the world and in the Middle East were also discussed.