Contracts Fair: what an amazing experience!

Dear Readers,

The GA is already almost over! I can’t believe how fast the August meeting has gone by so far. Up to now I am so impressed with the organization of this GA by the amazing organizing committee (OC). The lodging, food, venue, social program and of course NFDP have gone beyond my expectations so far. Thank you to the OC for doing such an amazing job and for making this a memorable experience so far!
Over the past few days, I have been attending SCOPE sessions every day. These sessions are an excellent opportunity to discover what other NEOs do differently in their NMOs. The information is very useful and I will be sure to make improvements in the IFMSA-Quebec SCOPE program based off of these sessions.
Yesterday was perhaps the most important SCOPE session: the CONTRACTS FAIR! This year we were able to sign 53 Bilateral contracts and 23 Unilateral contracts with other countries giving our students 76 opportunities to go on clinical exchange abroad. As mentioned in my previous blog post, we kept many of the countries that we signed with last year. We eliminated a few countries from our contracts this year with whom our students were not able to meet the exchange conditions the previous year. We increased our contracts for a few countries that our students really appreciated and decreased contracts with countries that we received complaints from our students. It was so much fun going from table to table and stamping over 40 sheets of paper with the IFMSA-Quebec stamp. It was also great to meet all the NEOs from the NMOs with which we signed contracts. Besides signing contracts, we promoted the SCOPE and SCORE exchanges that IFMSA-Quebec offers by displaying promotional and patriotic items of Quebec at a booth and explaining to others the unique opportunities that we have to offer. This event is also a lot of fun because we have the chance to visit the booths of the other countries and learn more about their exchange programs, as well as be stamped from head to toe in the logos of each NMO.
Cheers!
Alexa