Swansea University is building on its successful collaboration with Trent University in Canada to launch an additional opportunity for transatlantic study.
Swansea has already established a dual degree arrangement in law and chemical engineering with the Ontario university. That is now set to be extended to include a dual degree pathway into undergraduate programmes at Swansea University Medical School.
Students recruited onto the programme by Trent will spend two years in Canada studying a Bachelor of Arts and Science general degree before progressing into Level 5 of one of the BSc undergraduate programmes in SUMS.
On completing two years at Swansea, students will graduate with a BAS from Trent and a BSc from Swansea.
Swansea University’s Dean of Medicine Professor Keith Lloyd said: “As a global university, we are fortunate to be able to work with universities, health care organisations, industry and the public sector across the world.
“This latest collaboration is another exciting development and testimony to the world-class teaching, research and innovation we offer here in Swansea. We look forward to the arrival of our Trent students and helping them to become future health professionals, educators, researchers and life scientists.”
Trent which currently has more than 8,000 students, is listed among the top 3.4 per cent of universities in the world and is Canada’s top ranked university for scholarships and bursaries.
Its link with Swansea was first established in 1988 by the School of Business as a student exchange link. In 2016 Swansea’s Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law expanded the relationship by teaming up with Trent to offer a dual BA/BBA LLB degree.
This was followed in 2018 by the chemical engineering programme which sees students spending two years of their first degree at the Ontario university before studying in Wales and going on to graduate with both a BSc from Trent and a BEng from Swansea.
Dr Mark Skinner, Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at Trent, said: “Trent’s elite Bachelor of Arts and Science programme is renowned for attracting high achieving students who are interested in the intersections between arts and science.
“We are pleased to partner with Swansea University to offer our students the opportunity to broaden their perspectives and experience through international learning as they prepare for careers as well-rounded professionals in the healthcare sector.”
The collaboration with Trent is just one many partnerships Swansea enjoys with academic institutions and businesses across the world.
Bernadette Stratford, of the Academic Partnerships Department and a Trent alumna herself, said: “We are delighted to be in a position to build on our strong partnership with Trent. The law programme is well established with Trent students in Levels 4 to 6, and we will be welcoming the first cohort of chemical engineers from Canada in September.
“Our aim is to bring together institutions and organisations to create and develop innovative international programmes, collaborations and strategic partnerships and our relationship with Trent is a great example of just how well this can work.”