The past few years of UEG Education, have, like UEG itself and UEG Week, seen an increase in output and the development of new initiatives that have gone from strength to strength. In some ways this is to be expected. UEG Education is instilled with immense educational expertise and fortunate to have engaged European and National Societies that already provide high level education in each of their sub-specialities.
UEG Education is building on the success of existing projects. Our classroom courses are all well established and have improved and adapted over the years in response to feedback from participants. To provide more in the way of access to basic science topics, we plan to hold up to three Basic Science courses each year. The Young Investigator Meeting continues to be popular and the Evidence-Based Medicine Course held at the beginning of UEG Week 2019 demonstrated again just how good education can be. We also continue to run the Summer School, which is ever popular and the perfect opportunity for networking and career development.
UEG Week itself has demonstrated the appetite for excellent teaching provided by experts with the huge success of the postgraduate teaching programme (PGT), which has grown in participant numbers every year. This year we also held our second ‘Mistakes in …’ session, again to a packed-out audience despite doubling the size of the room!
Our online courses and other content have also established a large increase in uptake. The Education site as a whole has had more than 1,000,000 page views in the past year. We now have 21 online courses and more than 7,000 unique online course users. The ‘Mistakes in …’ series remains particularly popular—41 of these articles are now available, with additions coming all the time.
We are now, therefore, in a very good position to reflect on these successes and to plan our strategy for the coming years. Ours aims have been summarised in the UEG Education Strategic Plan 2019–2022 and are outlined below:
Developing effective training tools and educational content to meet the learning requirements of the future to optimize quality and standards in Europe
Strengthening existing digital learning resources using innovative technology and ensuring easy access to stand out as the premier source in the world for online education
Organising specialised courses for different target groups in Europe based on unmet needs, using the best educational concepts, ensuring multidisciplinarity, hands-on training when appropriate and an evidence-based approach
Promoting multidisciplinarity across Europe by supporting activity-driven collaborative efforts between our members
Establishing an educational European syllabus for all our training opportunities based on the Blue Book of the European Board of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (EBGH)
Harmonizing clinical training of professionals and strategies for accreditation in Europe by fostering close links with UEMS/EBGH
Providing educational resources for undergraduate and postgraduate certification requirements in Europe (European Specialty Examination in Gastroenterology and Hepatology [ESEGH])
To develop our strategy, we are innovating and changing the way we provide education. In collaboration with the EBGH, we are mapping our content to the Blue Book and, with the Education Committee, have performed a gap analysis to see where we need to focus our educational offerings. With involvement in the development of the new curriculum as well, we will work with our colleagues to make UEG the comprehensive resource when preparing for the ESEGH.
As of this year we have also changed the way we integrate everything we do. Indeed, the e-learning team are now an integral part of the Education Committee. In addition, everyone learns in different ways, and through combining methods of learning and blending them where appropriate, we hope to bring UEG Education to as many people as possible.
The first of these new projects is well under way—a blended learning concept that will deliver the best online educational offerings with the added value of in-person expert involvement and interaction. The first topic to be covered in this integrated format will be chronic pancreatitis, as an example of a specific topic that requires a multidisciplinary approach. Participants will first study a range of online learning materials and undertake assessments, before meeting with an expert multidisciplinary faculty in a classroom environment for case-based learning in small groups. We hope to expand this exciting new learning format in years to come.
Needless to say, nothing is possible without the hard work, engagement and enthusiasm of our Member and National Societies. UEG Education is fortunate to have all of these attributes, and with a clear strategy in place we look forward to the success of the coming years.