This week (13-14 June) representatives of over 50 medical institutes, from Australia to the USA, gather in St Andrews, Scotland, to firm up their plans for the world’s first international virtual medical school (IVIMEDS).
The Scots-led initiative aims to bring the new learning technologies to bear in providing tomorrow’s health professionals with access to the best of international expertise, wherever and whenever they choose to train. The congress marks the conclusion of a feasibility study carried out with the aid of Epic Group plc, Europe’s leading developer of e-learning programmes. Epic’s consulting division has provided the business case for the venture, which is the first of its kind to have been collaborated on by so many of the world’s leading health educators.
Sir Alan Langlands, Principal of the University of Dundee and former chief executive of the NHS in England, believes the partners are on the threshold of a new global style of medical education: ‘The concept of an international virtual medical school is a very exciting development, with enormous potential to benefit patients in both developing and developed countries, through giving health professionals easy and flexible access to the best medical expertise in the world, no matter where they are based. We are enormously encouraged by the overwhelming international response to the project and delighted to see so many of the world’s leading medical schools and institutions gather in Scotland to take it to the next stage.’
Donald Clark, CEO of Epic Group plc, said: ‘E-learning has had significant impact on higher education. But there is one area in which it has particular potential – that is, medical education. IVIMEDS is by far the most significant initiative in this area.’The list of partners includes Harvard Medical International, Mayo Clinic Medical School, Miami medical schools and other universities in the USA and Canada; universities in Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, South America, Bahrain and the UK - including Scotland’s five medical schools, as well as the new NHS university and e-learning representatives.
Discussions between the collaborators have so far largely been web-based, but over the two days of meetings and workshops, based at the St Andrews Bay Hotel, the 100 delegates hope to lay the foundations for the future medical school. The delegates will not go home without some experience of Scotland beyond the workshop. On Thursday evening they will attend a banquet at Glamis Castle.
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