(Published - 5 March 2020}

Collaboration between the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the University of Olso in Norway took another positive turn when two students jetted off to the Scandinavian country recently for a three-month exchange programme.

Fourth-year dentistry duo Cyril Pilusa and Rene Kapot became only the second group from UWC’s Faculty of Dentistry to travel to the University of Olso as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions.

According to Professor Vivienne Wilson, Deputy Dean for Teaching and Learning at the Faculty, only Olso students have been visiting UWC, not the other way around, because of lack of funds.

But last year the two top dental schools made it possible for three students to spend two months in Oslo. This pathed the way for Pilusa and Kapot to follow suit this year. 

“It has always been one-way traffic where students from Oslo would come here. Now we are giving opportunities to our own students to go out there to see and match what is being done,” Prof Wilson explained.

Pilusa and Kapot are part of a group of international students who will spend time in all dental departments at Oslo University, looking at their curriculum and their theatres to see how they are treating patients. This, according to Prof Wilson, is important to the agreement and for the students to forge life-long links and to broaden their knowledge.

During the faculty send-off days before their departure, the two students were elated by the opportunity. Pilusa said he is most interested to see how the preventative dental health care system can be adopted to the more curative system in South Africa.