A sustainable health sector to meet the challenges of the 21st century: launch of the EUVECA project

Nineteen partners from eight European countries, including the research institute Polibienestar at the University of Valencia, and led by Southern Denmark, form a four-year consortium to establish seven Regional Centres of Vocational Excellence that will develop, test and deliver future-oriented skills for the health sector.

The seven regional centres (Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia and Spain) will be connected in a European Platform for Vocational Excellence in Healthcare. The aim is to ensure coordination, adaptation, innovation and upward convergence within the regional healthcare education ecosystems, as well as to promote European blended mobility and inter-regional learning and collaboration between healthcare professionals and students from the participating regions and beyond.

The initiative contributes to the European Skills Agenda focusing on digital and green skills that complement the so-called “21st century skills”, such as problem solving, teamwork, analytical and critical thinking.

A meeting on 2 and 3 June in Sønderborg, Denmark, marked the official start of their collaboration. During the two-day meeting, the partners went through all tasks, activities and work phases and planned immediate actions. To begin with, the partners will conduct a scoping review, analyse training needs from the point of view of learners and health workers, and conduct interviews with stakeholders.

This long-lasting partnership, based on trust and complementarity, will meet regularly online and physically to update each other on progress and plan ahead. All results, tested activities, training content, etc. will be transferable and open to other regional ecosystems interested in health education beyond the consortium partners.