Skip to ContentSkip to Navigation
About us Medical Sciences Education Refugees from Ukraine
University Medical Center Groningen

Refugees from Ukraine

Message to refugee students from Ukraine

The Faculty of Medical Sciences / University Medical Center (UMCG) is deeply concerned about the situation in Ukraine and wants to help you and other refugee students to conduct educational and research activities during your stay in the Netherlands, and provide associated support.

These webpages are to inform you about the options and procedures for that purpose.

Focus on activities in medical sciences

As most of the requests that we have received so far are about medical education, we will focus on the options for medical students – bachelor, master and PhD – but these options are not exclusively for MD students from Ukraine.

Applications of refugee students will be considered based on content criteria, in which the required level of previous education to participate successfully in the course or activity is most relevant.

Here are the options that we can offer (please check first if you meet the criteria, before applying).

Guest students in the bachelor phase (pre clinic)

Refugee students are in principle welcome to apply for a guest student status, to attend relevant and appropriate English spoken classes and courses that are offered in the Faculty of Medical Sciences.

Depending on availability, refugee students are invited to send their resume’s and transcripts and look for the options in the course catalogue: Ocasys: Course Catalog (rug.nl), section Medical Sciences / UMCG.

Note: Though the majority of requests that we have received so far concern medical training in the strict sense (MD), the Faculty of Medical Sciences / UMCG The Faculty of Medical Sciences also houses a a couple of other programmes: Dentistry (BSc and MSc, in Dutch), Human Movement Sciences, Sport Sciences, Clinical Psychosocial Epidemiology (MSc, research track) and Molecular Medicine and Innovative Treatment (MSc, research track).

Though there are limitations and criteria, students in for instance Dentistry may apply for a course of one of the other programmes of the Faculty of Medical Sciences / UMCG.

Research and clinical electives in the Master

Refugee students are welcome to apply for a research internship. The UMCG has numerous research departments and institutes covering a wide variety (if not all) medical disciplines, so almost any research project can be accommodated. Please see here for further information: Research for the future of health - UMCG - Research (umcgresearch.org).

Please send your letter of motivation, (mentioning the field of research and why you are interested in doing research in this particular field), and your CV to international.office umcg.nl.

You request will be handled by one of our case managers.

Clinical internships

Clinical activities are in principle unavailable, with two exceptions:

Exception 1: refugee students with good command in Dutch and in the last semester of medical training in Ukraine (missing max. 4 rotations/electives/internships, max. 5 months) are welcome to apply for Dutch spoken equivalent activities in the UMCG or affiliated hospitals, provided that their home institutions will formally and content wise accept these as substituting these missed activities.

Exception 2: refugee students that were very close to graduating as MD in Ukraine – missing max. two rotations, electives or internships, 2/3 months in total – are welcome to apply for English spoken equivalent activities in the UMCG or affiliated hospitals, provided that their home institutions will formally and content wise accept these as substituting these missed activities.

So please send us a statement from your university saying that you will have to do a maximum of two rotations and that doing them in the UMCG will allow you to graduate. Also send us a motivation letter mentioning the one or two disciplines of your preference. You can mail the documents to international.office umcg.nl. Your application will be handled by one of our case managers.

Mind that we will only handle requests from students staying in the Netherlands.

All documents must be in English

(Note: For both exceptions acceptance cannot be guaranteed, availability depends on department/capacity constraints.)

PhD student options

Refugee PhD students are also welcome to apply for a temporary and voluntary research internship.

The UMCG has numerous research departments and institutes covering a wide variety (if not all) medical disciplines, so almost any research project can be accommodated. Please see here for further information: Research for the future of health - UMCG - Research (umcgresearch.org) and Graduate School of Medical Sciences (groningenbiomed.com).

Buddy project for students

For refugee medical students from Ukraine we started with a buddy initiative, with the purpose to provide social support. The idea is to match one refugee student with one Groningen medical student, to simply undertake joint activities like having a coffee, give a personal tour through the city, introduce you in study life in Groningen, see a bit of the country side, maybe go for a swim in the Hoornse Lake in summer, exchange study experiences etc.

Besides that your buddy can help out in minor practical matters for which students are the best source, like where to buy a second hand bike, where to do your groceries (market!), where to hang out (Noorderplantsoen!) etc.

Refugee students that are interested to be matched with a student buddy are welcome to apply at buddies.for.refugees ucmg.nl.

Note: the buddy project is only for informal social purposes. Student buddies are not equipped to handle traumatized students or other issues that require professional help.

Ukraine UMCG employees for support

Some Ukrainian employees of the UMCG stepped forward to help out in any language issue or other difficulty in which their support could be helpful. If you think you might benefit from this kind of service, please let us know via international.office umcg.nl, so we can try and match you to one of these volunteers.

Other options beyond UMCG

The University and city of Groningen offer many other options to undertake activities during you involuntary stay here. It is impossible to give you the full overview of possibilities, but maybe it is helpful to mention a few, just to get you started:

Language Centre | University of Groningen (rug.nl)

Forum Groningen

Home | Studium Generale Groningen (sggroningen.nl)

Usva - The cultural facility of the University of Groningen

Last modified:21 September 2023 3.37 p.m.