Pan-European soft skills curriculum for undergraduate veterinary education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Pan-European soft skills curriculum for undergraduate veterinary education

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal)

Project Summary

Scientific literature, together with surveys among veterinarians shows an increasing need for enabling veterinarians with skills to cope with challenges imposed on them by the rapidly changing world and the enormous strain the profession puts on them. The Cov19-pandemic is a perfect example of the importance of having a broader view on complex problems. Skill acquisition and development are essential for the performance and modernization of the profession in order to provide new forms of flexibility and security for veterinary professionals.

Project objectives that were set in the beginning were achieved in full extent and within project timeline:
1. Developing Recommendations of life skills competences for veterinary students (IO1).
2. Developing a new life skills curriculum applicable in veterinary HE institutions. (IO2).
3. Developing 3 training concepts for teachers (IO3) in communication, entrepreneurship and digital skills.
4. 46 teachers were trained in teaching & training activities for competence in specific modules of the new life skills curriculum.
5. Implementation partners have carried out a pilot project at their institutions, implemented and evaluated selected learning outcomes in the existing courses from the new curriculum.
6. The participants in the pilot project (more than 200 students) have evaluated through an online survey based on IO4 their experience, overall satisfaction with new course and obtained competences.

IO1 provides recommendations of life skills competences for veterinary students focusing on three key areas: communication, digital skills, entrepreneurial skills. The list of competences applies to higher education in veterinary medicine and can be integrated in whole or in part into existing curricula.
IO2 provides a suggestion of a life skills curriculum for use in veterinary higher education. The Curriculum includes 3 courses syllabi in 3 sections: Communication skills, Entrepreneurship skills and Digital skills. The SOFTVETS life skills curriculum for use in veterinary higher education is prepared for veterinary teachers, teacher trainers, students as well as faculty management and regulating bodies. The aim of this document is to aid implementation or integration of proposed syllabi in existing curricula.
IO3 provides training concepts for education of veterinary teachers involved in life skills teaching in 3 areas: communication, digital skills, entrepreneurial skills. Training concepts are also suitable for teachers of any veterinary subject wishing to upgrade their teaching techniques. The training ensures that teachers acquire new knowledge on topic of specific life skills, gain an insight how these topics are taught elsewhere and obtain ideas they can include in their everyday teaching.
IO4 The SOFTVETS Evaluation Questionnaire for Students and the SOFTVETS Reflection Questionnaire for Teachers were developed for higher education institutions that aim at evaluating competence-based courses.

The project results are applicable in the institutions that have recognized the importance and need for implementation of life skills teaching into their curricula.

During the course of the project, three Teaching & Training workshops for teachers were organised in implementation partners’ schools. The project team also organised an online conference with the topic „Teaching life skills in medical education“.
Project team members and all participating individuals (especially teachers and students) have gained comprehensive view on the scope, importance and necessity of life skills in veterinary education. The necessity for implementation of such skills that we have anticipated while applying for the project has only been accentuated in the year of pandemic we now live in. What has started as “a nice idea” is finding its way into strategic documents of institutions and associations, largely due to the “buzz” raised by this project and its members spreading the word, both in personal communication within institutions as well as in more formal occasions. The long term benefits of this project are systemic and include both veterinary HE as well as the veterinary profession at EU level with a special emphasis on student based teaching (competence based teaching).
The project team worked highly interdisciplinary involving veterinarians, psychologists, communication, educational and entrepreneurship experts as well as veterinary students. They managed to extract the positive aspects of various veterinary curricula throughout Europe, which vary considerably, emphasizing the most common topics and competences that should enter future competencies curricula. Implementing new, non-professional skills into veterinary curricula is a difficult task but one has to start somewhere and the project outputs make a good aid in getting there.

Project Website

http://softvets.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 216884 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB-FACULTY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE & Country: HR

Project Partners

• STIFTUNG TIERAERZTLICHE HOCHSCHULE HANNOVER
• WIRTSCHAFTSUNIVERSITAT WIEN
• UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI
• EAEVE
• VETERINAERMEDIZINISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN
• ALLATORVOSTUDOMANYI EGYETEM