The EHECADI project aims to develop cooperation between European Higher Education Institutions in the field of health and social care. Healthcare students Sonja Rouvali and Kato Lauckx recently tested the project’s international online course that will enable students to conduct responsible research and acquire digital and transversal skills through the length of the degree length. They joined other young people from Finland, Belgium, Spain, Cyprus, Ireland and Portugal who are taking part in the course co-development.

University of Applied Sciences students Sonja Rouvali and Kato Lauckx participated in the EHECADI project last year. Rouvali is a third year physiotherapy student at Turku University of Applied Sciences and Kato Lauckx is in her final year of occupational therapy at Odise University of Applied Sciences in Belgium.

The aim of the ERASMUS+ funded EHECADI project is to promote the working life skills and employment of social and health care students and to develop international cooperation on graduate theses. HEIs Fundacio Universitaria Balmes, Turun Ammattikorkeakoulu Oy; European University Cyprus; Waterford Institute Of Technology; Cruz Vermelha Portuguesa; and ODISEE are taking part in the project alongside Fundació TICSalut and  European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities.

"The course contained a lot of useful information."

In the project, Turku University of Applied Sciences is responsible for developing a three-credit online study module to improve students' digital skills, ability to communicate, self-management, well-being at work and global and innovative thinking.

Both Sonja and Kato were involved in trying out these online studies. "The course was still a work in progress when it was published. Towards the end it gained more content and became more functional," Sonja says about the early stages of the piloting.

Kato completed and evaluated the Superdiversity course, which included short videos, surveys and links to additional materials. In her opinion, the course was particularly good because of the short videos, which were easy to focus on.

According to Sonja, the course contained a lot of useful information that especially first-year students could benefit from.

Young people are interested in international experiences and international studies

Sonja says that through the project she was not ultimately in that much contact with other international students.  'The piloting of the course included a few discussion assignments where I could comment on the work of international students. At the end, there was a joint Teams event where feedback was collected from the participating students."

Kato would have enjoyed working more with other students from different countries as well. They are both interested in international opportunities and views, such as perspectives of students from different cultures, the operating methods of different countries and learning new things.

The aim of the project is to find new kinds of opportunities for cooperation regarding graduate theses. This would be an excellent addition to current opportunities for internationalisation.

Both students have more international experiences ahead

In addition to the international opportunities offered by the project, Sonja is leaving for Belgium in March and Kato arrived in Finland in January. Both will undertake work placements in their respective host countries.

Sonja is looking forward to her internship in Belgium. "I don't know about their practices, so I'm sure I'll learn a lot of new things that will benefit me in Finland. And vice versa!"

Read more about EHECADI – European Health Care Final Dissertation in Finnish and English. The project is part of the New Ways of Promoting Performance research group.