A joint high-level delegation of leaders from the Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences (MNUMS) and the International Education Exchange Association (IEEA), visited Georgia State University May 10 to renew a collaboration that supports a special pre-med program to address the global shortage of medical doctors.

Khurelbaatar Nyamdavaa, president of MNUMS, headed the Mongolian delegation, while Dr. Jay Jongyul Lee led the IEEA contingent. The visitors met with Georgia State President M. Brian Blake and Provost Nicolle Parsons-Pollard, as well as Carrie Manning, Interim Associate Provost for International Initiatives; Allison Calhoun-Brown, Senior Vice President, Student Success; Michael Sanseviro, Vice President for Student Engagement and Programs; and representatives from the office of admissions and additional members from the Office of International Initiatives.

Established in 2018, the special pre-med program is a collaboration between MNUMS, IEEA and Georgia State. IEEA prepares Korean students for their academic experience at Georgia State where Korean students transfer to obtain biology or chemistry bachelor’s degrees with a concentration in pre-med. The Georgia State graduates then matriculate to MNUMS to study medicine. Two Memoranda of Cooperation, one between Georgia State and MNUMS, and one between Georgia State and IEEA were signed to facilitate further discussion and exploration of other areas of collaboration.

“We are delighted to have had the opportunity to host this distinguished delegation and to renew our partnership with MNUMS and IEEA on this career-oriented pathway program,” Manning said.

The Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences is the only public medical school in Mongolia. While the original goal of the visit was to renew the partnerships in international students’ pre-medical study and training, during the visit the delegation also learned about Georgia State’s Institute for Biomedical Science and the highly ranked Health Law program. President Nyamdavaa, who was the former Health Minister in Mongolia stated that he is looking forward to more areas of collaboration between the institutions in the future.

The high-level visit and renewed Memoranda of Cooperation between MNUMS, IEEA and Georgia State University reaffirms Georgia State’s role in higher education globally.