Main objective of
this project is strenghtening research capacities in partner countries in areas
of public health, promoting a sound exchange of information and building
capacities between higher education institutions of European Union and Central
Asia. This objective wil be achieved tuning existing doctoral studies,
developing new MSc programs and implementing blended learning approach. The
project will enhance the quality & relevance of higher education across
European and Central Asian regions and India in the public health areas and
improve their capacity for sustainable international cooperation, thus
collaborating at the creating a long
lasting excellence international network, to continue its activities after the
end of the project period.
Specific
objectives:
- To foster
professional competences of teachers in distinctive areas of Environmental
& Occupational Health and Public Health;
- To revise &
update existing MSc & PhD curricula in EH, OH & PH
- To develop new
MSc in EH, OH & PH tailored to local needs;
- To introduce new
pedagogical methods & quality assurance mechanism for Master studies;
- To establish
educationallaboratories at PC universities for graduate students;
- To establish e-learning systems at partner countries
universities to support regular students, correspondence students as well as
professionals in life-long learning.
The revised and
newly introduced MSc & PhD programs will strenghen educational &
research capacity of health systems in partner countries.
It will become a
base for preparation of skilled & knowledgable public health specialists
for health care systems in PCs.
Established e-labs at Universities with Managed Learning Environment
system and introduced b-learning in teaching & learning will improve
students thinking skills, problem
solving abilities, and collaborative development of knowledge. Therefore, it
will enhance capacity & quality of higher education and produced human
resources for public health systems in PCs.
The project activities and methodology:
1. Training
trainers: improving English language knowledge and skils, updating competences,
mastering skills of designing & developing and teaching e-based materials
& using b-learning in teaching through a Managed Learning Environment (MLE)
system.
2. Updating and
development of MSc and PhD programs in line with Bologna principles through the
design of new high quality modules and the preparation of supporting teaching
materials and their national/international accreditation.
3. Modernization of
teaching/learning resources (World class e-labs, MLE system).
4. Networking with
and for resource sharing and optimisation, curriculum development, information
dissemination and future collaborations.
5. Delivery of PhD
and MSc courses
6. PhD students
mobility
The project starts
with a kick-off meeting, where the consortium will plan details of the project
timeline & activities, identify and agree roles & responsibilities.
Then EU partners will work with local staff during visits to PCs to identify
and assess local needs in content and specific methodological design of new
graduate courses.
The assessment
results will inform the academic content of ‘train-the-trainer courses in public health (PH), environmental
(EH) & occupational health (OH). It will include subjects developing
analytic assessment, policy development and program planning & management,
leadership & communication, and systems thinking skills.
The target group
for training the trainers will be 4-5 faculties from each PC. The selection
criterion will include professional competence, teaching skills, communication
& leadership skills, knowledge of English, etc.
Since English is a
language in which most research results are published and most international
events are held, the partners are encouraged to have fluent English. Therefore
the training starts with 4-months intensive English language course for 20
teachers at each PC university.
The core of
training the trainer program will focus on 4 major topics:
1. Innovative
teaching/learning
2. How to develop
modular structure & MSc courses.
3. The state-of-art
in EH, OH &PH encountered in the international context.
4. Blended teaching
& learning
3 ways of training
will be used:
- 2 workshops at EU
universities. The visits of PC partners to EU partners will aim at
familiarization with the state-of-art situation in education in PH&SP, QA
procedures, with social & cultural life.
- Summer schools.
EU partners will organise 2 summer schools on b-learning, e-teaching & use
of a MLE system; innovative teaching methods, updating professional &
pedagogical skills; how to develop e-materials and apply information &
communication technologies to support classroom & online delivery
appropriate to individual & professional needs.
- A range of online
sessions & web-conferences after equipment of e-labs & mastering
b-learning will strengthen skills mastered and knowledge gained and consult in
development of MSc programs and QA systems.
Updating existing
MSc and PhD studies will be done according to recommendations made at the final
meeting of the previous project. To increase quality of existing PhD studies,
mobility of PhD students are planned: from each partner University 2-3 scholars
will have 2-month study at EU partner university.
When the PC
partners are ready, they will develop locally & regionally relevant, ECTS
compliant graduate courses.
The Masters modular structure gives consistency and flexibility
to education and allows for implementation of modules into certified training
programs. The idea is to have a joint basic structure sharing educational
modules in the PCs and across different specialisation fields at each PC
University.
The basic module of
future Master programs will include: Introduction to Public Health,
Biostatistics, Research Methodology, etc.
The specialised
courses will include: Environmental & Occupational Health, Epidemiology,
Health Economics, Health Management & Administration, etc. The content
& materials of all courses should be adopted for b-learning with the use of
a MLE.
By the end of the
1st half of the project, the programs will pass accreditation at PC Education
Ministries. By the end of the year 2, the first MSc-students will be admitted
at each PC University.
The EU partners
will visit PC universities contributing to International studies week programs
for students on the new courses.
During the project
lifetime participants will develop a range of learning & training resources
such as presentations, digital libraries, case studies and other information
resources that will be made available in a variety of media. Developers and
trainees will contribute to the on-going development of these resources
throughout the project.
Modernisation of
the teaching/learning resources of PC universities includes creation of an
e-lab with relevant equipment (computers, headsets, etc) and MLE software. MLE
is designed to help teachers to facilitate the management & administration
of educational courses, to track student training and includes functions as
authoring, classroom management, competency & knowledge management,
certification or compliance training, personalization, mentoring, chat,
discussion boards.
Implementing
b-learning will consist of the following steps:
- Defining clear
training objectives
- Identifying the
skill gaps of learners & the characteristics of audience
- Matching the
content needed to achieve training objectives with the most appropriate mix of
learning methods
- Finding good
instructional design taking into account how adult learns
- Teaching learners
how to learn online
- Ensuring
learners’ success by providing with appropriate technology & technical
support
- Keeping learners
engaged & motivated by facilitating & supporting program
Time, budget & personnel resources, the audience size, how big is the
geographic area the audience spread across will be also considered.