Joint Efforts Towards Capacity Building in International and Global Health

Abstract

Academic capacity building of health personnel in international and global health, based on scientific evidence, is one of the pillars of the global strategy on human resources for health (HRH) [1]. Academic partnerships often focus on supporting institutions in single low-and middleincome countries (LMIC), successfully shown with the large-scale program for Rwanda [2], or establishing a multidisciplinary, international PhD network for training future researchers in Africa [3]. With the aim to establish a transnational Master program in Global/International Health, tropEd, an international training network exists since 25 years. With an initial funding under the umbrella of the European Erasmus program und exclusively with European universities as members, the network rapidly increased the number of members of non-European universities. Today the network—formally an association under German law since 2003—consists of 27 institutions of higher education from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Whereas in the first years the mobility of students and teaching staff was prioritised, nowadays the exchange of experiences, a common standard of education in global health, and the quality assurance of teaching offers are in the focus. Reflecting on the 25th anniversary of the network, the history of tropEd gives an excellent example, that long-term partnerships and collaborations of dedicated individuals and institutions are the key for successfully contributing to capacity building on the individual, but also at the institutional level. Students completing a Master’s program at one of the member institutions value the new knowledge and skills acquired as essential and for many of them the program laid the ground for job promotion [4]. In addition, the majority of students from LMICs remains in their country of origin after graduation, supporting their health systems in the daily fight against manifold challenges. As students register at one of the member universities, but can take courses at any member institution, the quality assurance of offered courses is seen as one major task of the network. tropEd does not deliver the Master degree itself, therefore the network defined a framework with common minimum academic and quality assurance structures, content and criteria [5]. The national accredited degree of the respective member university must adhere to these standards to be recognized as a “tropEd Master in International Health” [5]. In addition, such a tropEd recognition will be delivered to a student only, if she/he took at least courses worth ten ECTS credit points outside the home institution. As a first step of the institutional quality assurance, institutions applying for membership have to undergo a formalized self-evaluation, followed by a site visit of a member of tropEd’s Executive Committee, including discussions with students, staff and management of the applying institution; Edited and reviewed by: Kasia Czabanowska, Maastricht University, Netherlands