MedicalSpace.org is an online platform offering free university entrance exams in biology and chemistry, designed specifically for medicine specialties in Bulgaria. The project has been initiated by Katerina Kostadinova – a practicing paramedic at Bulgaria's biggest emergency hospital and a volunteer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The problem that Katerina has found is the difficult access to medical education. The entrance exam compendiums in biology and chemistry go way beyond the natural sciences knowledge that students gain in schools. Applying to enter medical universities in Bulgaria takes long preparations and taking private lessons and courses. The costs for private lessons are often beyond the financial capabilities of the families of the young people who dream to become doctors one day.
Katerina and her associates in the MedicalSpace.org project have made a preliminary survey involving 547 candidates and university students. The results showed that over 90% of young people take private lessons or courses, and in over half of the cases this process continues about two years. All surveyed individuals admit that their private lessons for the university entrance exams are a serious financial burden for their families.
The solution offered by the team behind MedicalSpace.org is to create university entrance training courses in biology and chemistry, freely available online. In addition, there is an integrated module for efficient learning. The training courses contain tutorial videos, plan compendiums, mind maps, solutions to various tasks and self-examination materials. The platforms offer paid online consultations for students who face difficulties in the plan. The training content has been created by students who have successfully passed the entrance exams and have dedicated their work to the cause of easily accessible education.
The work of the young authors is verified by editors, who are experts in medicine, biology, and chemistry. This ensures the factual correctness of the training materials, while creating jobs for students and various generations of medical professionals. Scientists are forming a community of conscious and shared responsibility when it comes to the quality of medical education in Bulgaria.
By sharing her idea of innovative educational project, Katerina has brought together a successful team of enthusiastic young experts, willing to commit to the cause of universally available and high-quality education for the entrance exams in medical specialties in Bulgaria. The team of MedicalSpace.org also includes Martin Krastev, who oversees all administrative issues, Sofia Asparuhova – a future dentist and a current social media coordinator, Mario Mitonchev, who is tempted by the science of being a pharmacist in the making.
The mission of the enthusiastic young experts behind MedicalSpace.org is to secure fair access to high-quality medical education from one generation for the next. The initiative is particularly useful for children who don't have the financial resource to afford private lessons. It is also of great use for students from smaller towns, where training courses for university exams or lessons in general are not available and attending them requires serious transportation costs. For the youth who take private lessons the MedicalSpace.org platform is yet another opportunity to review their knowledge and access a source of high-quality educational materials.
PROMYANATA (The Change) they seek to achieve:
The ambitious goal of the team behind MedicalSpace.org is to improve the quality of education in biology and chemistry, which are the foundation of all medical sciences that guarantee generations capable of thinking critically. This will give all motivated and driven young people an actual chance to achieve their dreams, relying mainly and mostly on their own efforts, regardless of the financial situation they are in.
The efforts invested in the implementation of the MedicalSpace.org platform aim to create an inspiring and supporting environment for a new generation of competent, active, socially engaged medical professionals, who will take care of our health and the health of our children.