Standing Committee

SCOPE

Professional Exchange

Four-week clinical exchange: Thai students in hospitals abroad, international students in Thai medical schools.

Type
Exchange program
Projects on record
14
Fields of work
7
Officers
NEO · NEO-Incoming · NEO-Outgoing · NEO-Assistant · VPX

What it works on

  • Clinical/professional exchange (four-week hospital clerkships abroad and in Thailand)
  • Global health education: social determinants, health systems and universal health coverage
  • Academic quality of exchanges (IFMSA's 9-step framework)
  • Intercultural learning and cultural exchange
  • Medical education recognition, getting exchanges accepted as elective credit and funded by faculties
  • Capacity building for local exchange officers
  • Expanding the programme to new Thai medical schools (LC activation)

How it works

  • LEO/LORE Weekend (LLW): annual national training weekend for local exchange officers, combined with the quota bidding round
  • Quota bidding and contract negotiation/signing with partner national organisations
  • SCOPE National Round: national-level application, essay and English interview selection for outgoing exchange places
  • Pre-Departure Training (PDT) for outgoing students
  • Upon-Arrival Training (UAT) for incoming students: physical in high season, paper/digital in other months
  • National Social Program (NSP), overnight cultural trips in July and August for incoming students
  • Local Social Programs (LSP) and International Food and Drink Party (IFDP) run by each LC
  • Educational activities on global health, health systems and open science
  • Exchange 101 webinars introducing SCOPE and SCORE to Thai medical students
  • Exchange Fair presentations at IFMSA General Assemblies and Asia-Pacific Regional Meetings
  • LC activation, helping new Thai medical schools open an exchange programme
  • Post-exchange reflections, testimonials and evaluation forms
  • Recruitment for the NSP and Exchange PR teams
Who leads it

NEO — National Exchange Officers: NEO-Incoming, NEO-Outgoing and NEO-Assistant, under the VPX

neo@ifmsa-thailand.org
On the record

14 projects on record.

  1. LEO/LORE Weekend (LLW)

    2023, 2025 (annual)

    Annual training weekend for 60-70 local exchange and research officers, with quota bidding. LLW25: 20 September 2025.

  2. SCOPE National Round

    Annual

    Places held back from LC quota, open to any Thai medical school. An essay plus a 15-20 minute English interview worth 50%. 2026/27: 14 interviewed.

  3. National Social Program (NSP)

    2022–2026 (every July and August)

    An overnight two-day trip for all incoming students, twice each July-August high season. Typically 60-85 participants.

  4. "SCOPE & SCORE — Get to Know More About Us" webinar

    2022 onward (recurring)

    Public Zoom webinar introducing SCOPE and SCORE, including how to apply. Recurring since November 2022.

  5. Quota Bidding

    annual, at LEO/LORE Weekend

    LCs place chips on Tier A and Tier B countries; oversubscribed ones go to a public draw. 2026/27: 50 places (27 Tier A, 23 Tier B) across ten LCs.

  6. Upon-Arrival Training (UAT) and Incoming Handbook

    annual

    Orientation for arriving students on Thai healthcare, transport, law, norms and clerkship expectations, plus national and per-LC Incoming Handbooks.

  7. Surgical Technique Training

    2023-2026

    A skills session for incoming students before a surgical rotation.

  8. LC activation drive

    2023–2025

    Opening SCOPE at new faculties: Naresuan (23/24), Ubon Ratchathani restarted, and Praboromarajchanok, Phramongkutklao, Thammasat, Walailak, KMITL and Kasetsart in progress.

  9. Exchange Fair (IFMSA General Assembly / regional meetings)

    2023, 2025, 2026

    Placed 3rd (August Meeting 2023) and 2nd (August Meeting 2025); also presented at APRM 2023, March Meeting 2026 and APRM 2026.

  10. Bimonthly SCOPE meetings

    2022/23 onward

    Regular national meetings of all Local Exchange Officers.

  11. Elective-credit and faculty-funding advocacy

    2022/23 onward

    A push for elective credit and faculty funding: by 22/23 PSU credited its outgoing students, SWU and RA partly, and schools gave 5,000-30,000 THB.

  12. Incoming welcome postcard

    2023

    A 4x6-inch welcome postcard sent to incoming students before arrival.

  13. IFMSA-Thailand SCOPE/SCORE participant regulations (bylaw)

    drafted 2022/23

    The terms every outgoing student signs: deadlines, 80% attendance for a certificate, fees, cancellation and refunds.

  14. Language certificate service

    2025/26

    An English certificate, signed by the NEO-Outgoing, for students without IELTS or TOEFL. 34 requests in 25/26.

Where SCOPE posts

SCORE and SCOPE publish through one shared exchange account.

Worth knowing

  • Standard SCOPE exchange is a four-week clinical clerkship; Thai LCs host incoming students all year round, with a strong peak in July and August.
  • Around ten Thai medical schools run active SCOPE exchange programmes. The 25/26 LEO Briefing names them as Chulalongkorn (CU), Siriraj (SI), Ramathibodi (RA), Vajira (BM), Srinakharinwirot (SWU), Rangsit (RSU), Prince of Songkla (PSU), Khon Kaen (KKU), Naresuan (NU) and Ubon Ratchathani (UBU). The count moves year to year, recent fair presentations quote between 8 and 11.
  • Each Local Committee offers more than 20 hospital departments to incoming students; pre-clinical students are accepted in all departments except Paediatrics and Surgery, and incoming students can request 1–2 days observing Thai or Chinese traditional medicine.
  • Incoming placements logged in the national tracking sheets: 144 for April 2023–March 2024, 124 for April 2024–March 2025, about 116 for April 2025–March 2026, and 91 tracked so far for the 2026/27 season.
  • Incoming students in those seasons came from 25–40 different countries, most often Italy, France, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Germany, Portugal, Russia, Croatia and Hungary.
  • The 26/27 quota distribution allocated 50 outgoing places across ten Local Committees (27 Tier A, 23 Tier B).

Want to work with SCOPE?

Write to the national officer, or start at your own Local Committee, if your medical school has one.