A delegation of staff from Bournemouth University visited Kathmandu, Nepal for a series of meetings and workshops to deepen partnerships with charities and education organisations and explore opportunities for future work in the region.
The visit also marked the renewal of a partnership agreement with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS), a relationship that has facilitated a number of research projects and staff and student mobilities to and from Nepal.
Professor Steven Ersser and Dr Michele Board from the Department of Nursing Science at BU spoke to health educators at MMIHS and nursing staff and students at both Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, Medical College and Teaching Hospital, and Kathmandu University Hospital in Dhulikhel to talk about the commonalities in nursing issues in both the UK and Nepal, nursing education, and the need for a robust nursing community around the world as a key part of healthcare. The delegation also met with the Registrar of the Nepal Nursing Council to understand the nursing landscape in Nepal.
Professor Ersser, Head of the Department of Nursing Science at BU, said, “We have had a tremendous opportunity to start to build on the development of our faculty’s established partnership with MMIHS. This involved exploring ways in which we can develop a nursing collaboration through education and research for our staff and students and to help support research capacity building. We also discussed the importance of nursing promoting access to health care and universal health for all.
With the new Nepalese policy development initiative to enhance nursing continuing professional development, there may be opportunities for our respective staff and students, to promote debate and role and health care development.”
BU and MMIHS staff were engaged in a series of meetings to discuss future research and collaboration. Dr Pramod Regmi and Professor Edwin Van Teijlingen have produced a range of research on issues for Nepali migrants, as well as health and midwifery care in the country alongside MMIHS researchers.
Dr Pramod Regmi, a Senior Lecturer in International Health at BU said, “Our migration health research together with health researchers in Nepal have gathered important evidence that can be considered in future programs and policies to promote health and wellbeing of both returnee and aspiring labour migrants and their left-behinds”.
Dr Board, Co-Chair of the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) at BU, visited Ageing Nepal, a charity focussed on issues of ageing and older people, to talk about opportunities to collaborate on future research and knowledge exchange. She said, “We have so much to share with our Nepalese colleagues about integrated care systems, and it has been valuable to engage with our Nepalese colleagues to understand the issues around nursing, ageing and dementia. There is also much we can share with regards to raising awareness about and destigmatising dementia based on our own research and experiences in the UK.”
The week culminated in an event hosted by MMIHS and BU, with a gathered delegation of local academics, government officials, and hospital staff engaged in discussion around healthcare issues.
Dr Alastair Morrison, Head of International Partnerships at BU, spoke as a part of the event, summarising the longstanding relationships between BU and organisations in Nepal. He said, “BU colleagues have been working in Nepal for more than a decade, and renewing the agreement with MMIHS during this visit by the BU delegation to Kathmandu has deepened the institutional relationship and provides a strong foundation for expanding to other areas.”
Dr Shanti Shanker, Principal Academic in Psychology in the Faculty of Science and Technology at BU, also joined the delegation to share her knowledge on mental health issues and speak with practitioners in-country on issues facing both regions. Dr Shanker also had the opportunity to teach students at MMIHS.
The visit was facilitated through the Erasmus+ KA107 fund, which supports university collaboration around the world, with BU working into Nepal for several years through the funding.
For more information about international partnerships at BU, visit https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/study/global-bu/global-partnerships
