Last week the “Transversal skills for humanization of technology for health and social wellbeing” - International Summer School took place in Campus Universitari Mar. The Summer School was organised in the context of the European project ITSHEC Integration of Transversal Skills into Health and Social care, Higher Education and the Curriculum, led by UPF – and involved teachers and students from different European Universities.

It comprised a training offer to health and social care students about transversal skills, especially critical and creative thinking, interpersonal/socio-emotional and citizen-oriented skills and learning to learn.The 5-day programme was based on experimentation and active methodologies based on different teaching-learning approaches i an interprofessional and intercultural environment (PBL, role-play, gamification, virtual reality etc.).

“Throughout the sessions, students experimented with the methodologies which helped to improve their transversal, English and internationalization skills and expand their network of contacts”, explains Dr. Mar Carrió, Principal Investigator at UPF and ITSHEC coordinator. The training also included field visits to see and discuss with professionals the role of transversal skills in real workplaces and working environments.

It comprised a training offer to health and social care students about transversal skills, especially critical and creative thinking, interpersonal/socio-emotional and citizen-oriented skills and learning to learn.

"During the summer school, learning strategies have been piloted that will be integrated into the study plans of the participating universities during the coming academic year and the feedback received by the participants has been key to improving them for their subsequent implementation," she adds.

26 students from different countries and degrees participated. They were UPF students on human biology and medicine; University of Split (UNIST) - Croatia students on biomedicine and medicine; Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (MUAS) - Finland students from social work; and Escola Superior d’Infermeria del Mar (ESIMar Nursing School) students from nursing. In the words of Dr. Eva Padrosa, professor and researcher at ESIMar, "it was a unique week to work on transversal skills and learn from other professions and cultures, in which a learning community was created where both teachers and students learned one from the other".

The ITSHEC project aims to improve the training of healthcare and social services professionals in transversal skills throughout the undergraduate and postgraduate training journey. ITSHEC is co-funded by the Erasmus+ project of the European Union.

More information.