On 31 March 2011, the initiators of the European Medical School Oldenburg-Groningen (EMS) were delighted to receive the "Nordwest Award", endowed with 30,000 euros, from Dr Stephan-Andreas Kaulvers, Chair of the Management Board of Bremer Landesbank, at the former Oldenburg airbase. For more than seven years, the neurobiologist and Rector of the Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg, Prof. Dr Reto Weiler, Prof. Dr Hans-Rudolf Raab, Chief Physician at Oldenburg Hospital, as well as the hearing researcher and speaker of the international graduate college Neurosensory Science at the University of Oldenburg and the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Prof. Dr Dr Birger Kollmeier and Prof. Dr Djordje Lazovic, Clinic Director at Pius Hospital Oldenburg, have been committed to the establishment of a cross-border medical degree programme. The aim is to offer the first European medical degree programme together with the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen from the winter semester 2012/2013. 40 places are to be created at each of the two universities.
The jury, which included Lower Saxony's Minister President David MCAllister and the President of Bremen's University Senate, Jens Böhrnsen, recognised the creativity and innovative power of the project. In his laudatory speech, Böhrnsen also justified the decision with the far-reaching significance of the project: "With the establishment of a European, cross-border medical degree programme at the universities in Oldenburg and Groningen that is unique in Germany, this project will enrich the entire northwest region with its offerings," explained Böhrnsen and emphasised: "Young people with the goal of becoming doctors and helping people will be able to stay in our region in the future." In addition, Böhrnsen said, they would also be attracted from other parts of Germany or from abroad, which would close the gap in medical training in the north-west to some extent. "The fact that new - European - paths are being taken and, for example, a Bachelor's degree programme and a subsequent Master's degree programme are being offered is a testament to the particular creativity and innovative strength of our Northwest region." The "Norwest Award" from Bremer Landsbank honours particularly exemplary projects in the northwest in order to present them to a wide audience.
Image film of the EMS Northwest Award