IMU Dental Students Embrace New Opportunities with Hybrid Mobility Programme at Prince of Songkla University

3 Feb 2025

The Student Mobility Programme was introduced at IMU University in 2007. The main objective of the student mobility programme is to allow students pursuing local undergraduate or postgraduate programmes to have some external learning opportunities locally as well as abroad. This includes understanding the culture, economic, political, and educational scenario in Malaysia. Similarly, IMU would like to get international students to experience life in IMU/Malaysia and to expand their intellectual and cultural understanding of Asia and interact with the local students.

A Virtual Mobility Programme, known as the Global Experience, was introduced in 2021. This initiative was the result of a collaborative effort between IMU’s School of Dentistry and the International Office. Thoughtful changes were made to cater to foreign students interested in pursuing mobility activities by designing the distant teaching and learning programme on virtual platform. It was also intended to offer our IMU students a unique learning experience to participate, interact and share knowledge and experience with foreign students during this mobility electives. Four cycles of virtual mobility programme were conducted in 2021 and 2022 with universities in India, Indonesia and Philippines.

In December 2024, a hybrid model of the outbound student mobility programme was organised for Semester 8 Dentistry (DT1/21) students at the Faculty of Dentistry, Prince of Songkhla University (PSU), Hatyai, Thailand. The programme was curated by Dr Chirayu Ruengrungsom, Lecturer, Faculty of Dentistry, PSU  and his team according to learning outcomes requested by IMU students and spanned over two weeks from 9 December – 22 December 2024.

The programme combined virtual didactic sessions with on-site exposure to various activities at the PSU campus. A total of 12 Semester 8 students participated in the programme, under the supervision of Prof Dr Seow Liang Lin, Dean of the School of Dentistry, and Dr Smita Nimbalkar, Student Mobility Coordinator along with Dr Chong Jun Ai and Dr Galvinderjeet Kaur Grewal, both lecturers from the School of Dentistry.

Virtual Activities via Zoom

Virtual activities were scheduled during first week of programme including didactic sessions on clinical topics combined with group discussion and assignments writing. During this virtual phase, lectures on ‘Neuropathic Orofacial Pain’ by Dr Pankaew Yakkaphan and ‘Oral Health related to Quality of Life: What? Why? & How?’ by Dr Arisa Srikong were conducted via Zoom platform on 9 December and 12 December 2024 respectively.

Study Tour at Prince of Songkhla University Campus

From 17-21 December, IMU students and faculty participated in a study tour at the PSU campus in Hatyai. The programme began with a warm welcome session, followed by a campus tour led by the founding Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at PSU, which proved to be both visually and intellectually enriching for the IMU team.

Prof. Seow Liang Lin delivered a multimedia presentation showcasing IMU’s vision, mission, and a virtual campus tour, highlighting the facilities at the School of Dentistry, IMU. A/Prof Dr Songchai Thitasomakul, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at PSU, shared insights into their curriculum structure and research opportunities.

The hands-on session and demonstration using the 3Shape Trios intraoral scanner were particularly well-received by IMU students. Additionally, Dr. Chong Jun Ai from IMU enriched the experience by sharing her expertise on the “Management of Complex Malocclusion” with PSU’s final-year students.

On 19 December, the outreach activity at Thungwang Child Development Centre run by Thai government was organised where the group was warmly welcomed by district council members and the centre’s management team. The visit highlighted the prioritisation of oral health from a young age.

Dr Arisa Srikong and Dr Kan Pokawattana, both public health specialists, provided an overview of oral health prevention and promotion of target groups, as well as the levels of the health service system in the country prior to the visit.

IMU group visited the Primary Care Cluster at Hatyai Hospital later part of the day, where Dr Wasin Mahasaranont explained about healthcare services in southern Thailand along with the role played by the healthcare team for the people mainly in Hatyai district.

On the last day of the tour, the faculty and students were introduced to the laboratory equipment available at PSU such as the micro-CT, chewing simulator, universal testing machine (Lloyd instrument), spectrophotometer (colour quest XE), toothbrushing simulator, hardness testing, roughness testing and their Leica biosystems which is a microscope that can read multiple slides at one time. Discussions were also held to explore potential research collaborations with PSU.

The study tour concluded with a self-reflection session, where IMU students, divided into four groups, shared their thoughts and experiences about the entire programme. The tour was undoubtedly fruitful, fostering international collaboration with PSU and providing IMU students with an invaluable learning experience. It offered students extensive exposure to the educational, clinical, and cultural landscape of Thailand.

IMU faculty and students expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the PSU team for their exceptional hospitality, making the study visit both enriching and memorable.

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