In 1980 Rostov State Medical Institute was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples for merits in training highly qualified personnel for the USSR and the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and the development of medical science and public health.

Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 2752 was signed on August 22 and Rostov Medical Institute became known as Rostov Order of Peoples’ Friendship Medical Institute (RODNMI).
This high award was preceded by many years of practice of strengthening scientific relations with foreign medical centers and higher educational institutions and participation in international congresses on healthcare.

A special role in the development of international cooperation and the strengthening of international relations belonged and belongs up to now to the Preparatory faculty on training of foreign citizens and the Faculty on training foreign students and postgraduates.

The first diplomas were issued to foreign students in 1962. Since that time, 12 thousand doctors from 142 countries of the world have been trained and received diplomas here. The training of foreign students is conducted both in Russian and in English.

“Our graduates have become real ambassadors of RostSMU in their native countries. Many of them defended their doctoral dissertations after completing their residency training and postgraduate studies. They held responsible public offices, became heads of clinics, hospitals, and departments of Ministries of Health. We are proud of the specialists we have trained. They have become not only good doctors, public health officials but also great friends of Russia. These people work all over the world, but they remember both the university and their teachers-mentors and maintain good fellowship towards our country”, — says Vice-Chancellor on Training Foreign Citizens and International Cooperation, MD, Professor, Head of the Department of Normal Physiology Gyuzyal Shamilevna Gafiyatullina.

The strategy of international cooperation of RostSMU is currently developing in accordance with the roadmap of the priority project “Export of Russian education: a new paradigm of opportunities” and is determined by an educational concept based on the principles of open, universal, developing, and innovative training.

RostSMU specialists participate in the work of international scientific societies of friendly countries, receive grants and share the results of their activities within the framework of scientific forums.

And each new contact — creative or business — is another contribution to the continuous work on strengthening friendship between peoples which has been conducted by Rostov State Medical University for many years.