Grodno State
КА2 – Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
ERASMUS+ КА2
«SETTING PEER REVIEW INSTRUMENTS AND GOALS FOR MEDICAL (HEALTH) EDUCATION» / SPRING
Project reference number 609528-EPP-1-2019-1-GE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP
Realization: 2020-2023
List of partner institutions
Applicant institution:
BAU International University Batumi LTD (Batumi, Georgia)
Project coordinator – Professor Levan Metreveli, MD, PhD, MPH, Professor of Public Health, Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine BAU International University Batumi)
Web-site of the Project: http://www.bau-spring.ge/
Co-beneficiary institutions:
- Tbilisi State Medical University (Tbilisi, Georgia)
- Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy LLC (Tbilisi, Georgia)
- Georgian National University SEU (Tbilisi, Georgia)
- Nicolae Testeitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Republic of Moldova (Chisinau, Moldova)
- Technical University of Moldova (Chisinau, Moldova)
- International Sakharov Environmental Institute of Belarusian State University (Minsk, Belarus)
- Grodno State Medical University (Grodno, Belarus) Project coordinator in the co-beneficiary institution – Surmach Marina Yurievna, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Public Health and Healthcare.
- Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University noncommercial joint stock company (Almaty, Kazakhstan)
- Karaganda State Medical University (Karaganda, Kazakhstan)
- The State Higher Educational Institution Avicenna Tajik State Medical University (Dushanbe, Tajikistan)
- The State Higher Educational Institution Khatlon State Medical University (Danghara, Tajikistan)
- Medical University Sofia (Sofia, Bulgaria)
- Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (Kaunas, Lithuania)
The aim of the project is to enhance the quality of medical education in the involved partner countries and contribute to the onset of changes of the same character in the rest of former Soviet countries.
Through various activities on capacity building, peer reviewing, exchanging experience, creating the foundation for sustainable development and further dissemination of final results of the project, the consortium of 14 higher educational institutions from 7 countries intends to achieve the following results:
- raising awareness on peer review process as an effective instrument for substantiating ongoing improvements in academic and administrative domains of medical schools in targeted partner countries and beyond;
- establishing a multinational peer review board (MPRB);
- establishing and building consistency for a continuous peer-review process of academic programs and processes and administrative policies, procedures and actions across the targeted partner countries and beyond;
- capacity building of faculty members and administrative staff;
- establishing an annual scientific-practical journal of “Peer Review in Medical/Health Education for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (PRIMED-EECA)”;
- enhancing internationalization of HEIs in partner countries;
- disseminating information on project achievements and other final products to participant institutions in program and partner countries.
The project will ensure the sustainability of the achieved results and their application in the very near future through the establishment of the above mentioned journal and independent cross-national “Peer Review Association for Medical/Health Education of Eastern Europe and Central Asia – PRAMED-EECA)” aimed at:
а. providing the group of highly qualified reviewers;
б. assisting medical education institutions of the targeted regions in the effective preparation for international accreditation.
Distance learning workshop "Quality Assurance in Medical and Public Health Education"
On the 3-4th of November 2020 as part of the SPRING project – SETTING PEER REVIEW INSTRUMENTS AND GOALS FOR MEDICAL (HEALTH) EDUCATION – a distance learning workshop for university staff of Belarus "Quality Assurance in Medical and Public Health Education" was held.
The workshop was organized by Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LUHS), Kaunas, Lithuania, Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria, together with Professor Levan Metreveli, Project Leader (BAU International University, Batumi, Georgia).
The participants of the workshop were represented by employees of partner universities from Belarus: Grodno State Medical University (18 staff members) and International Sakharov Environmental Institute of Belarusian State University (11 staff members). GrSU participants included project working group, deans of all faculties, teaching staff and heads of departments of the Faculty of Mental Health Medicine as a pilot university division chosen for further implementation of the elaborated peer review instruments of education quality assessment.
Within two days the participants have attended a course of online lectures on the following subjects:
- Introduction to the SPRING project: aims, objectives vision to the future of training of health care professionals (Prof. Levan Metreveli, Project Leader, BAU, Batumi, Georgia)
- Bologna declaration and development of European higher education area: medical and public health education in focus (Prof. Linas Šumskas, LUHS, Faculty of Public Health, Kaunas, Lithuania)
- The competence framework for graduates of medical training programmes (Prof. Algimantas Tamelis, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, LUHS, Kaunas, Lithuania)
- Leadership in public health and university training (Prof. Mindaugas Stankūnas, LUHS, Faculty of Public Health, Kaunas, Lithuania)
- Quality assurance and quality culture in medical and public health higher education (Prof. Angelika Velkova, Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria)
- Approaches to quality assessment in higher education. Peer review (Prof. Angelika Velkova, Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria)
- Quality assurance and experience of ASPHER and APHEA in public health programme accreditation (Prof. Кarolina Lyubomirova, Member of the Executive Board of ASPHER, Vice Rector, Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria)
One of the prerequisites of the workshop was the fulfillment of an individual control task, presented as an open question, which required a detailed reasoned answer.
Following every lecture the workshop participants had an opportunity to ask questions to a the speaker, take part in a discussion and answer the questions of the moderator – Professor Linas Šumskas (Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Faculty of Public Health, Kaunas, Lithuania).
The active participation in the workshop participants (not only of the working group, but also of other participants) was highly appreciated both during online sessions and afterwards during discussions in small groups, particularly in the dean's offices.
An important result of the workshop has become the strengthening of cooperation and establishing new professional contacts, as well as motivation for the development and improvement in order to achieve a high quality of education at the Grodno State Medical University.
Similar workshops will be further held as part of SPRING project implementation.