EPSA Twinnet Project

FASFR Twinnets

FASFR – The Federation of Pharmacy Students’ Associations from Romania has always been fond of mobility projects. The reason itself which stood as the foundation for creating the Federation was the wish to provide students with the opportunity of experiencing different study environments during a one-week exchange in another University than their own. Since 2003, FASFR has organized such national exchanges twice a year, during the InterFarma project.

Nevertheless, the need for international collaborations proved to be as significant to Romanian students and new initiatives of doing exchanges abroad have been put in place with the help of EPSA. FASFR’s Member Associations started to get involved in EPSA’s Twinnet project, each year more passionate and determined to put together high-quality programs. These framed the perfect setting to allow participants the transfer of culture, knowledge and experiences through dedicated educational and social activities.

In recent years, members’ interest in doing a Twinnet exchange has been higher than ever. During the first half of 2019, three of FASFR’s eight Member Associations have completed exchanges: SSF București partnered with ANEPF’s Local Association in Rouen, SSF Iași also went for a French experience, hosting and then visiting fellow students from Rennes and last but not least, OSF Cluj-Napoca paired with the Spanish Local Association from Barcelona.

“We were delighted! All the activities were well planned and the hosts have been very kind to us.” said one of the Romanian participants this year.

FASFR will keep organizing Twinnet exchanges for its students, aligning with EPSA’s vision of ensuring constant exchange of cultural experiences for the benefit of our future professionals whom we are raising together.

VFSO Twinnets

Oana Ciobanu Liaison Secretary for FASFR, Romania

I’m Amber and I’m the mobility coordinator at VFSO Belgium. Therefore I’m responsible for the organisation of the Twinnets and also for the NIMP function. This year we organized the first Twinnets in Belgium. One of them was with Utrecht in the Netherlands. We visited them in the beginning of October for a long weekend from Friday till Sunday. We were with a small group of nine people from Belgium who made the journey from Antwerp to Utrecht. When we arrived in Utrecht we were welcomed by the Dutch and were immediately immersed into the culture by giving us a bike to be able to explore the city. We dropped off our bags and went out for some drinks and got to know each other. We also got to know the Dutch drinking games, beware of if you see Dutch people holding a dice in their hand close to your drink ;). The next day we got to visit a pharmaceutical company called ‘Chipsoft’. Which was very interesting. We also did an EPSA workshop about team work where we had the chance to learn some new things. In the evening we went for some nice pizza and had a lovely evening exploring the nightlife in Utrecht. The next and last day we went to have a boat ride through the little canals of Utrecht and had a lovely brunch on the boat. It was a great Twinnet with new friends and new experiences. Thank you again KNPSV for organizing such a lovely Twinnet!

HUPSA Twinnets

15 HuPSA members had the chance to experience what it is like to be a student at the Cyprus International University. As soon as we had set foot in Cyprus we felt very welcomed. After these 5 days we were very satisfied culturally, professionally and last but not least gastronomically too.

On the first night we tried out how traditional Turkish coffee tastes and we continued the night attending a live concert. The other day we experienced a Meyhane Night, we sat together around a big table, selected mezze from trays and sipped raki while we were getting to know each other. Thanks to the amazingly warm weather we could have night picnics. We also experienced the sunset at the Kyrenia Harbour.

These Twinnet will remain unforgettable to all of us and we can’t wait to show Hungary to our CIUPSA friends.

Kinga Virág Liaison Secretary for HuPSA, Hungary

TWINNET

In the year 1992, the Group exchange project was established, which was actually also the moment when the basic core of the TWINNET project was done. That time, the main idea was to promote contacts between European pharmacy students and to ease the organisation of excursions to other member countries. As the years went by, the aim of the project turned more into the direction of exchanging knowledge and experiences, with the possibility of visiting each other.

Nowadays, through TWINNET we provide pharmacy students from all over Europe the opportunity to exchange culture, knowledge and experience.

The project teaches its participants intercultural awareness, to accept responsibility and how to plan and manage a project with a rich educational as well as social programme provided by the hosting group of students.

In addition, as EPSA Team, we provide continuous support and information to the TWINNET Coordinators while ensuring a smooth process of the project’s organisation. After each successfully organised project, the participants submit their feedback report, in order to keep the project regularly developing and enhancing. This way, we also guarantee that the TWINNET Coordinators share their experiences between each other.