Description
Partners in the project 'Solution design' have already established long term bilateral contacts and have decided to deepen their partnerships and to provide their master and doctoral students an important tool for their future careers: solution design or designing solutions. Although today students are receiving high levels of expertise in their respective fields of study, they have little knowledge and skills to use the knowledge when faced with complex challenges. Therefore, it is necessary to uptake an unusual, systematic and interdisciplinary approach. This will be represented in the Solution design. Solution design is a method that has emerged from the experience of many professors at various universities and was carefully structured at the University of Maribor. It is based on: learning by doing, project based learning, problem based learning and other approaches. Each partner institution will manage local administration - help with the preparation of the application, recruiting students, processing and forwarding the applications, developing the programme and include the lecturers required to ensure a high quality programme.
Summary of project results
Intensive programme (IP) “Solution Design – Evidence Based Nursing and Health Care Waste Management” wanted to provide participants with pedagogical introduction to evidence based nursing and group work focused on critical appraisal of relevant evidence and application of EBN principles to different aspects of nursing and health care waste management. The students were able to choose from core topics for individual and supervised group work, which included environmental health, public health ecology, prevention, reduction and control of hospital-acquired infections, etc. Lectures and group work were aimed at undergraduate students with basic background in nursing or related fields. Additionally, students were able to attend excursions to different related institutions. The last day of the winter school included the poster session with presentations of the work, done by students during the two weeks of the IP. The presentations were successful and the results from the final evaluation form that every participant filled in on the last day, have shown that all aims and objectives of the IP were met. Within the preparation of the output students got first-hand knowledge about nursing and paramedic education and the occupation itself in all three participating countries, so they were able to compare and bring foreign experience back home. University of Maribor Faculty of Health Sciences (Slovenia), Lovisenberg Diaconal University College (Norway) and University of Pecs Faculty of Health Sciences (Hungary) were able to strengthen their collaboration, share good practice and explore new knowledge and make use of an IP benefits.
Summary of bilateral results
One of the goals of the project was to ensure “exploitation” of the project and “knowledge transfer” into local economy. University of Maribor organised the presentation of the results for the employees from the University Medical Centre Maribor. The results of IP were presented by the participants (students and staff) of the IP. The main purpose of this event was to present the possibilities solving real life’s problems by students and transfer of knowledge from the university into local economy. Additional benefit of this IP was the so called “internationalisation at home”. The project enabled students and staff to have an international experience without their own mobility. Its aim is to enable students to gain educational, language and cultural benefits and to enrich the educational environment of the receiving Institutions and to promote mobilities. IP created the immense network of students who could come to study to our university, via Erasmus+ programme or EEA/NFM grant, and vice versa it gave our students a glimpse of what an international exchange brings to quality life experience and an additional value to their CVs. The teachers and administration staff were able to constitute new opportunities for more international teacher/staff exchange, and additionally closer research and/or project cooperation. The project thus shows that the University of Maribor is a credible partner in the project and it has strengthened cooperation between the partners, especially with the Lovisenberg Diaconal University College. We agreed that we will cooperate not only by organisation of the IP, but also by the other joined projects concerning environment and health care.