Harmonization Of Curricula Research Articles

Assessment and Implementation of WOAH Day 1 Competencies (AID-1C): a cyclical methodology for curriculum harmonization with international standards.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Day 1 Competencies for Graduating Veterinarians provide a standard framework to guide Veterinary Educational Establishments (VEEs) in improving their veterinary public health and population medicine curricula. However, pursuing a curriculum revision to incorporate these standards may be daunting, especially for institutions with limited resources or experience. This manuscript describes a methodology for targeted curriculum revision specifically focused on the WOAH Day 1 Competencies. The Assessment and Implementation of WOAH Day 1 Competencies (AID-1C) is a six-step, cyclical, collaborative methodology that encompasses a series of tools and processes that help a VEE to evaluate their curriculum, identify and prioritize gaps, and develop and implement an action plan based on the results. The six phases of the AID-1C process include: (1) Assessment of the proficiency of the VEE's graduates in Day 1 Competencies using a structured Evaluation Tool; (2) A systematic curricular review and evaluation; (3) Identification and prioritization of interventions through a group problem-solving and prioritization exercise called Focus Forward; (4) Design and development of interventions to address identified gaps; (5) Curricular implementation; and (6) Monitoring and evaluation. The AID-1C methodology relies upon active involvement of senior students, recent graduates, faculty, instructional staff, and employers throughout the process. The AID-1C methodology provides a systematic, participatory, collaborative approach that simplifies the planning and execution of the curricular revision, making a complex process more manageable. This enables VEEs to improve their curricula, while moving toward harmonization with WOAH standards. The result is a curriculum that allows a VEE to train well-rounded and competent veterinarians, with the requisite skills to support the veterinary services in their country.

MECHANISMS FOR INTERACTION BETWEEN LEGAL CLINICS AND GOVERNMENTAL BODIES: LEGAL, ORGANIZATIONAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES

Practice shows that a legal clinic is the most effective element of practical-oriented education in a law school today. Despite the introduction of project activities into curricula, the development of cooperation programs with employers, the harmonization of curricula and teaching materials with employers’ representatives, it is the possibilities of clinical education that enable future lawyers to acquire practical skills even before graduation. Nevertheless, some distance of clinics from employers' practice bases and sites does not allow full benefit of clinical training. Purpose: to examine possible mechanisms for interaction between legal clinics and governmental bodies, primarily courts. Methods: the national and world experience of legal clinics is studied, the level of legislative regulation of their activities and the degree of their involvement in national systems of free legal aid are determined by applying comparative legal, specific legal methods, analysis and synthesis. Results: the author substantiates that the program of clinics should include measures to provide free legal assistance to the public at employers' venues. The opinion is expressed that such work can contribute to the involvement of students in the practice of judicial representation of clients' interests, as the most professional element of free legal aid. The article identifies possible ethical and organizational problems that may arise in the implementation of such interaction, and suggests ways to overcome them on the example of the activities of the legal clinic of the Novgorod State University.

Strengthening Applied Epidemiology in West Africa: Progress, Gaps, and Advancing a Regional Strategy to Improve Health Security

The ability to prevent, promptly detect, and appropriately respond to a public health threat is essential for health security. Field epidemiology training has helped increase the quality and quantity of the public health workforce to strengthen disease surveillance, outbreak preparedness and response, and general public health capacity. We conducted a desk review on the status of the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program model in 16 countries in West Africa. We also developed a questionnaire and shared it with West African Health Organization (WAHO) member states to document their experiences and the status of training in their countries. WAHO organized a regional 3-day consultative meeting with major stakeholders in the region to examine progress, gaps, and challenges, and outline a roadmap to strengthen the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program. Stakeholders shared their experiences, engaged in discussions to identify strengths and gaps, and made plans on a way forward. Member states are at different levels of implementing field epidemiology and laboratory training programs in their countries, and, therefore, major gaps remain in the number and distribution of trained epidemiologists throughout West Africa. Member states implement different variants of the program and in some instances the same cadre of health workers are trained in different but comparable programs with different funding streams. Two member states had not begun implementing the training program. Developing regional centers of excellence was recommended in the long term while collaboration among member states to train the required number of epidemiologists to fill the acute needs could be helpful in the short and medium term. Curriculum harmonization and expansion, deployment and use of trained epidemiologists, accreditation of training institutions, and generation of indigenous funding streams are recommended to improve the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program in West Africa.

Challenges of Entrepreneurial Education in Nigerian Universities: Towards a Repositioning for Impact

Entrepreneurial education course were introduced into the undergraduate curriculum of University students in Nigeria in 2006. The focus was to equip graduates with requisite skills for entrepreneurial success after school. The overarching objective of the program was to reduce youths unemployment; especially among school leavers, in Nigeria. Over the years, while graduates unemployment has not abated, there is a growing national discontentment on the socio-economic relevance of the course in Nigeria education. This inability to meet its introduction objectives has led to many uncoordinated revisions and changes in the pedagogical structure of the curricula over the years. To reposition entrepreneurial education for impact, there is a need to critically and comprehensively review implementation challenges as reported over time. The study adopted a review methodology approach of extant literatures and publications in the last decade. The theoretical underpinning of the methodology is based on structural functionalism in order to achieve a holistic system diagnosis. The internal challenges that bother on funding, relevance and harmonization of curricula were found to be more invasive than the external policy-related challenges. It is recommended that the internal and external factors need a redress to refocus and reposition Entrepreneurial Education for impact in the country. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2016.v6n1p208

Obstacles to the Free Movement of Professionals: Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications in the European Union

Abstract European states are experiencing a shortage of healthcare workers, and hiring managers are increasingly looking for foreign-trained health professionals to fill care shortages. However, these workers often experience difficulties with the transfer of their professional qualifications across national borders. This article investigates the recognition of Polish nursing qualifications in the EU, studying the directives for mutual recognition of nursing qualifications, negotiations over Poland’s Accession Treaty, and efforts by the Polish Chamber of Nurses and Midwives to reverse its discriminatory conditions. It is argued that the exclusion of the Polish nursing unions from the accession negotiations constitutes a democratic deficit, and that the creation of a single European market is not yet achieved. The findings are placed in a larger discussion about the Europeanization of healthcare delivery, the harmonization of curricula in higher education, and the consequences of these developments for the free movement of skilled workers within the EU.

Towards a joint definition of European hematology

In 2003, the EHA and the European School of Hematology, (ESH), were awarded a European Commission Grant to promote Continuing Medical Education, harmonization of curriculum and professional mobility in hematology. In this project, the European Committee for Accreditation in Hematology or ECAH, made

The Role of the European Schools in the 1990s

The European Schools are a bold and imaginative attempt to provide common education, from kindergarten to higher secondary level, for the children from all Member States of the European Community (EC). Their creation became necessary when the nascent Community set up common economic, scientific, legal and political institutions and proper schooling had to be provided for the children of the staff working in these institutions. The first European School was created in Luxembourg in 1953; eight others were opened in the following years in five other countries of the Community. Today they educate over 15,000 pupils. They are inter-governmental schools and are administered by a central Board of Governors on which the delegations of the 12 Member States hold 12 out of 14 seats, the others held by the Commission and the European Patent Office. Educational control is exercised by a Primary and a Secondary Board of Inspectors who are responsible for the harmonisation of curricula and the organisation of the European Baccalaureate, which is a university entrance qualification universally recognised in the European Community and in many other countries. The reason why there are only nine European Schools is simple: it is the general policy of the Board of Governors to set up new schools in response to a demand from one of the institutions of the European Community and not from other international bodies (the exception being the European Patent Office in Munich). Thus, paradoxically, there is no European School in Strasbourg, because the Council of Europe is not an institution of the EC, and the administration of the European Parliament resides almost exclusively in Luxembourg. The schools therefore exist primarily for the children of Community staff; other children can be admitted only subject to the availability of places which, particularly in the Brussels and Luxembourg Schools, is very limited. For many years now, however, the Central Bureau of the European Schools in Brussels has been regularly approached with a view to setting up European Schools in other international centres of the European Community. Thus, to take only France, enquiries have been received from Grenoble, Lyon and Strasbourg. In none of these cases has it been possible to give a positive reply, although in educational terms the creation of a European School would have been the most satisfactory solution to a particular local problem.