6 reasons to study at the South Kazakhstan Medical Academy

Student life at the South Kazakhstan Medical Academy (SKMA) is filled with bright events and many who choose it are satisfied.

These are the six reasons why I've enjoyed studying at SKMA:

1) As a SKMA student I can fully engage not only in studies, but also participate in the scientific process. As a member of the “Biologist” scientific club, I worked as a researcher on three scientific projects carried out in a laboratory equipped with advanced equipment, visited many cities which we could walk around in our free time, and participated in four international scientific conferences.

2) Here students can get a quality education, and also do what they love in various clubs of interest. I visited the debate club "Birlesu" (Unity), where representatives of different nations living in Kazakhstan discussed many topics and learned to defend their positions, and then we went bowling, played tennis or sat in a cafe together. I had friends who were dancing in one of the academy's clubs, I was delighted with their performances, especially when I saw foreign students dancing in their national costumes.

3) SKMA has an excellent location in the city and students can visit many interesting nearby places in between classes. Students can watch street performers on the Arbat who sing, play on different instruments and paint, go to the Russian Drama Theatre, as well as shop in the "Shymkent Plaza" shopping centre. Students can go to the zoo, an arboretum, and they can retire with friends from the hustle of a big city in a quiet area, but if students want something more lively, they can have fun in one of the many nightclubs and other entertainment venues. On weekends, students can travel to the suburbs, hike through the mountainous and wooded areas and camp out under the night sky, or visit mountain resorts with pools such as “Eco Village Kaskasu”.

4) There is an opportunity to make many new acquaintances with students of different nationalities. I enrolled at SKMA from another country and all people living here treat each other with kindness. I have visited many of them, once I stayed at a hostel in India to visit Indian students. SKMA’s administration takes care of foreign students from abroad, and have allocated them a separate hostel with security and a cook. National holidays are celebrated here every year, as are the holidays of our guests from other countries. Representatives of dance clubs perform folk dances of many nationalities, and local talented students play the national instrument "Dombra" and foreign students, in turn, perform their folk songs and songs in the Kazakh language.

5) At SKMA, students have the opportunity to acquire theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Many students from their junior year practice in hospitals, stay on duty, help surgeons perform operations, and participate in patient surveys and examinations. They master the skills so well that in their senior year they save lives. One example would be during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, some students helped doctors as volunteers, and thanks to them it was possible to help thousands of patients.

6) Teachers at SKMA know how to intrigue students in their studies. There are classes where the teacher explains complex scientific terms, of which there are many in medicine, in simple language. For example, we were told about immunity through the history of the actions of the soldiers whose city was attacked by invaders. There are also classes where the teacher immerses us in medical life, one student plays the role of a doctor and tries to make the correct diagnosis, the other, in the role of a patient imitates symptoms. Once a classmate was so immersed in the role of a patient that for another two hours, he thought he was actually sick – this is called medical student syndrome.

And finally, I want to say that I really liked studying and living in the city. I was a foreign student to begin with, but I changed my citizenship two years ago and decided I would like to stay here indefinitely.