Newsletter 5

Some of you might wonder what AK/CoFo stands for. It is short for Ausbildungskommission or in French, Commission de formation and it’s swimsas panel for medical education. In this edition of the newsletter, we would like to share with you the experiences we had during the last year. Obviously, we’re also hoping to plant a spark of motivation in someone's heart to make sure the smusi delegation will continue to attend the meetings! 😉

The AK/CoFo meeting takes place in Bern, three times during the semester, on a weekend. To be there on time, there’s sadly no Saturday or Sunday sleep in. But don’t worry about the travel cost, since it is an official meeting, you’ll get your tickets reimbursed. Once you arrive at Bern train station, you just must find the right path through the station's labyrinth and you’re already there.
At 9.30 there’s always some croissants and coffee waiting for you, then the meeting starts. We usually start with updates from the different medical faculties, also the chiropractic’s and pharmacologist’s associations delegates might be there to share. The meeting continues with updates by the Liaison Officers and the VPA (Vice President for education), the chief of the AK, himself. Small working groups lead by people within the AK present their progress. Afterwards there’s always time for other topics; here an example:

Something we discussed at the last AK was the podcast situation which was particularly concerning at the beginning of this semester. And right after the meeting we sent the most important arguments to our representatives at the study commission who were able to get the podcasts back to us – success! And that’s how it goes.
After the meeting, whoever wants is invited to join the VPA for lunch in Bern and if you still have other things to do, you’ll most likely catch a train leaving from Bern at 1o’clock. And yes your train ticket to Bern will be covered by swimsa.