Solving Global Issues Through International Collaboration With NICOT
For three days, June 14th to 16th 2019, some of the best and brightest students from all around the globe were gathered together in Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed) to tackle some of the most pressing global issues today. Organised by students of NUMed, the event, NICOT, united the student bodies from all three Newcastle University campuses in Singapore, London and Malaysia through the formation of cross-national and campus groups. Each international team of students worked together to design solutions to international issues through interdisciplinary collaborations.
Students were assigned to solve international issues that are aligned with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which the global community is hoping to achieve by the year 2030. This year, the organisers of NICOT decided to focus on three issues: inequality in access to education, racism in view of refugees, and the over-manufacturing of plastics. These issues were viewed to be highly important and relevant to all three countries involved in the competition.
Participants were first challenged to brainstorm innovative and effective methods to overcome these complex global issues as part of a multinational team before submitting their proposals. The finalist were then invited to NUMed for the three day final competition to present their solutions to a panel of judges in the most efficient manner possible through a short and concise 3-minute elevator pitch.
According to the President of the NICOT organising committee, NUMed student Irfan Ikhtar, “NICOT provides a platform for participants to network with the students from the other campuses, allowing them to build bridges and overcome cultural differences – and in turn helping them become more culturally aware, an objective we have in line with globalising the participants. In addition, it also challenges participants to be more open, critical and creative of their own ideas, especially in terms of finding solutions to issues.”
Established in 2009, NUMed is the first fully – owned international branch campus of Newcastle University, UK, in Johor, Malaysia, that offers undergraduate degrees in Medicine and Biomedical Sciences as well as opportunities for postgraduate studies. NUMed draws on the legacy of Newcastle University, UK.
The university is internationally renowned for being one the best British universities for medicine, offering world-class medical education to students from more than 120 countries. Currently, it is placed fifth in the UK by The Guardian University Guide 2019 and in the top 125 (Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health category) by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2018, among others. It also received a 95% Overall Student Satisfaction Score according to the National Student Survey 2017 (subjects allied to medical category).
