Following in the footsteps of the third Master Mekong Pharma class

12/18/2014

Straight from Vientiane, professors and students share their first back-to-school impressions.

For the very first time in Vientiane, the Laos University of Health Sciences has welcomed students from the transregional Masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences since the start of classes in October 2014.

M-C. Lallemand, enseignante du Master Mekong Pharma à la Faculté de Pharmacie Paris Descartes, Dr. S. Niradsay, enseignante à l’Université des Sciences de la Santé du Laos, et les 17 étudiants du Master Mekong Pharma.

This new class has 17 students, all with college pharmacy degrees. Eight are Cambodian, five are Vietnamese and four are Laotian.

An intense start to the school year
This first year, the equivalent of a Master 1 level, is a chance for students to review and deepen their basic knowledge in pharmacology and pharmacochemistry before joining the French Masters 2 transferred to Southeast Asia which are offered as part of the Master Mekong Pharma programme.

Seven teaching missions have already been completed since late October, and more than 210 class hours given.

It is a tough, fast-paced year for students, as all classes are conducted in French and at  high demanding level. But the students have shown great determination, working very hard and showing great personal investment in their coursework since the start of the year.

What the professors and students think
“I had the good fortune to teach in the Master Mekong programme in Vientiane during the week of 8-12 December 2014.  First I’d like to say that I very much enjoyed that week of classes and the students are focused, kind and friendly. We developed a strong teacher-student relationship in no time at all. Involving Laotian instructors is a great choice, as well, and it was truly a pleasure to reconnect with my Laotian counterpart, whom I’d met in Vietnam during the first year of the Master Mekong Pharma project.”
Dr. Marie Christine Lallemand

Chhour Monivan

“The intense pace caught me by surprise at first. I never imagined that they would be expecting such a high performance level from us. In some subjects, I have good foundations that I learned at the university. For other subjects, it’s been much harder because we’re learning new concepts. The Master programme covers a very broad spectrum of Pharmaceutical Sciences, addressing many domains. The instructors ask for a lot of oral work from us, and we regularly make presentations in French or English. This is the first time I’ve left Cambodia. It wasn’t easy at first to be away from my family. Fortunately, I made friends with other students as the weeks went by. We help each other a lot, with studying and even in everyday life, because we all live in the same housing.”