History of the student organization

The beginnings of student organization date back to 1959 when the Union of Socialist Youth was established at the Faculty of Dentistry in Skopje. The involvement in organizing congress activities dates back to 1976, when for the first time a joint scientific-student congress of medical and dental students was organized, with the support of the President of the Student Organization, Slave Naumovski, later full professor at the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery at the Faculty of Dentistry in Skopje.

A professional graduate excursion for dental students, which included a visit to the dental equipment factory KaVo in Bern, was for the first time organized in 1977.

The student organization was registered in the Register of Non-Governmental Organizations under the name Union of Students of Dentistry of Macedonia (USDM) in 1993, and its first president was Obrad Rosic. That year, the Statute of the student organization was adopted for the first time, the first scientific student congress was organized in Ohrid and the student newspaper Denticia (Macedonian/English) was promoted, with Ana Angelova as its first editor and today, a professor at the prestigious university- Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, King’s College University of London.

USDM was accepted as a full member of the International Association of Dental Students in 1994, and in 1997, the chairman of the International Association of Dental Students was Valentina Shterjova.

In 2004, Dancho Bizevski was elected president of USDM. During that period, the Students’ Council was established with representatives from all academic years, as well as an Information Office. In the following terms, the presidents of the student organization were: Bruno Nikolovski, Diana Sumenkovska, Trajche Mitrev, Nikola Marolov, Marko Mladenovski and Jovan Strkovski.

The name of the Student Organization, pursuant to the amendments to the Law on Higher Education and the Statute of the University “St. Cyril and Methodius”, has been changed to the Student Parliament of the Faculty of Dentistry (SPFD). The current president of this organization was Jovan Krlev.

The continuity of the student congresses continues, their international character remains and they are an excellent opportunity for active exchange of professional-scientific information. In recent years, they have been following the trend for a pronounced practical aspect by introducing workshops in various fields. The last one, the 26th International Scientific Student Congress was held in Skopje, in May 2019, and it enriched the treasury of Books of Abstracts that traditionally follow every student congress.

It is important to note that students are worthy representatives of our Faculty. They not only participate in student congresses abroad, but also win significant awards. The student Irena Markovska in 2007 won a special award for the student theme at the 6th Congress of Medical Sciences for Students & Young Doctors in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The postgraduate of the Faculty of Dentistry in Skopje, Angel Andonovski, won the second place at the Essential Academic Excellence Contest – GC 2017-2018, in Leuven, Belgium.

Renata Stefanova won the first prize at the International Dental Student Congress in Ljubljana in 2018, and Bisera Stojanovic and Xhevahire Vrenezi in Istanbul, won the first place with oral presentations on the 25th Student Dental Congress, in 2019.

The versatility of our students is confirmed by the participation of Marko Mladenovski on the 14th Oratory Evening Ivo Puhan – Faculty of Law in 2014.

In the portfolio of the student organization it remains noted that the Dental Chamber in 2015/16 awarded commendations and appreciation certificates to students Nikola Marolov, Marko Mladenovski and Imrane Beljuli.

The creative work, the continuous successful achievements in the educational and extracurricular activities of the students Filip Konevski (2013) and Marko Mladenovski (2015) are effectuated in the award “13 November” of the City of Skopje for educational and extracurricular activities. In the past decade among the awarded best students at the University “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” in Skopje, were also the students from the Faculty of Dentistry (Appendix).

In the year when we celebrate the six-decade jubilee of the Faculty of Dentistry Skopje at UKIM, in cooperation with SPFD, we incorporated yet another part in the mosaic of complexity which is one of the prominent feature of the Faculty. Following the well-established tradition of teaching-educational activities, but at the same time keeping pace with the modern trends, for the first time the Summer School of the Faculty of Dentistry was organized, which aims to confirm safety, to strengthen self-confidence of students who have already mastered not only theoretical problems but have also acquired practical skills in performing certain therapeutic procedures, as well as technical skills.

The concept of the Summer School is based on lectures and workshops in various fields of dentistry to master a variety of practical knowledge and skills. We hope that this form of

education, which was wholeheartedly supported by the Rectorate of UKIM, will grow into a tradition.