Health Exchange – The Future of Health Professions in Europe

“Health Exchange” was a mobility project for persons responsible for vocational education and training in health care from Berlin. The objective was to get to know systems of vocational education in Austria and the Netherlands, and in particular, the introduction of the bachelor degree programmes, which had already taken place there, but not yet in Berlin. The focus was on one-week experts’ experience exchange in Amsterdam and Vienna.

The participants were experts in vocational education from the following fields: clinic, nursing, physical therapy and health advice; educators with management responsibility and governmental supervision over schools, exams and professional law. With Austrian and Dutch educational managers, they discussed current issues such as the academization of health professions, trends in vocational education, comparison of the health professions, the EQF in the health sector, European collaboration, contents of education and training, quality standards and examination structures.

Visits to schools, hospitals, clinics and academic institutions have enriched the professional exchange. The project programme was coordinated and implemented by the BGZ, in collaboration with its long-standing partner organisations. “Health Exchange” created an opportunity for Berlin experts to utilise the good practices of other countries, in order to advance necessary innovations according to the “Master Plan Health”. Further projects, such as the exchange of apprentices in nursing, teacher exchanges and the development of curricula, have been agreed.