Education in Bioengineering and Medical Informatics in the Western Balkan region: Fostering new study programs

Abstract

Bioengineering and Medical Informatics (BE&MI) is the one of the fastest growing engineering disciplines in leading regions and countries worldwide. In addition to redesigning and modernizing of existing dedicated study programs, new are developing rapidly as the response to the national needs. Such needs are built-in as priorities and developmental pillars in many national strategies, and coordinated under alliance with governments, national biomedical engineering societies, health institutions, industries, and consultative services. Having similar priorities set in their own developmental strategies, Western Balkan countries launched the initiative of introducing new study programs in Bioengineering and Medical Informatics at all three levels of higher education. The initiative is conducting through European Commission funding of Tempus project “Studies in Bioengineering and Medical Informatics - BioEMIS”. This report presents the main features, goals and objectives of the project, as well as the new offer of study programs in the fields of BE&MI in the WB region at bachelor, master and Ph.D. levels. These are the result of transfer of good EU practices and “know-how”, in the first order, and additionally tuned with guidelines set by leading higher education institutions worldwide.