EJEL Volume 5 Issue 4
February 2008

On the Road to Virtual Europe - Redux

Andy Pulman
School of Health & Social Care, Bournemouth University, UK

During 2006, in association with partners from universities in Holland and Belgium, the School of Health & Social Care (HSC) Web Team at Bournemouth University were successful in a bid to the Consortium of Institutes of Higher Education in Health and Rehabilitation In Europe (COHEHRE).

The Virtual Europe project is a web-based European community from which case studies and scenarios may be accessed for learning and teaching purposes by teachers, groups and individual students. It features a map of Europe, which allows access to country specific resources (such as a town hospital) populated with different cultural case studies. This would allow comparisons and contrasts between cultures to be examined. For example, a student in the UK could compare and contrast the differences between UK and European approaches to treatment and care of a patient in a particular situation.

Cohehre was established in the belief that the development and quality of higher education for the health care professions would be enhanced by international cooperation, realising amongst others, an international and European dimension to the educational activities of its membership. This project aims to provide a cultural opportunity to work on a cross border project, and offers the chance to provide an innovative virtual learning environment, which could be utilised across Cohehre partner institutions.

Dissemination is a key component of the project with this paper being the second in a series of publications. It offers a unique overview of the benefits and limitations surrounding the development and implementation of a European health based virtual community. How will it facilitate the elimination of barriers for international mobility of students and staff? How easy is it to integrate into differing European health curricula? How does it compare to the experiences offered by new virtual environments?

Keywords: interprofessional, simulated community, health education, Virtual Europe, intercultural, international

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