THIS week Copeland welcomed a new cohort of medical students to the school at West Lakes Science Park. 

The students come from all over the world to study at the school which has been formed in recent years with the hope of having more qualified health professionals in the area. 

A group of the students were welcomed at The Beacon in Whitehaven by mayor of Copeland Mike Starkie and deputy lieutenant Gerard Richardson who helped to form the school. 

The students were able to walk around The Beacon, learning about Whitehaven's heritage and were also given passes to visit The Rum Story if they wish to. 

Mayor Mike Starkie said: "I've worked very closely with UCLan and the West Cumbria Medical Education Campus and there's been a real focus on bringing students in from around the world. 

"Each year we come down and meet them because what we're trying to do is create an environment where we don't just have qualified students bringing their skills from around the world but actually create an environment where they want to stay. 

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"Hopefully this will alleviate some of the staffing issues in the hospital. If there's a school here we want to continue to see expansion and more British students going through it. 

"I've worked a lot with professor Cathy Jackson by trying to develop the medical education campus and we're still trying to work with them now to find accomodation solutions, so we're able to get more of them and get these young people placed in some of the key towns. 

"This will allow these young people to not only part of our work force but also to become a part of our community. 

"We've done this on a regualr basis to welcome them into the town. They've achieved an awful lot and we've seen numbers increase exponentially over the past four or five years."

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