Recent developments in the field of innovation in European public health systems, reflected in the initiatives of the European Union and the World Health Organisation, have pinpointed the necessity of fostering cooperation and exchanges across boundaries in the healthcare sector, so as to enhance the quality, access, openness and innovation of healthcare education.

Information technologies have already unfolded their potential and have proven to be successful in achieving these objectives, e.g. through the spectacular development of e-health and communities of practices worldwide. However, it is fundamental to federate and further encourage these innovations by providing a virtual meeting point for the multiplication of their impact.
The WHOLE web based health organisations learning environment project intends to address this need, in a sector in which multiplication of knowledge has a direct impact on societal and economic well-being of Europeans.

The overall aim of the WHOLE project is therefore to develop and consolidate a European Virtual Academy of Innovation in Health, in which: analyse good practices and investigate transferability and scalability of innovation in public health, promote sustainable collaboration in public health training across boundaries, involve the primary target groups, i.e. students and healthcare professionals, in a European “Master degree for intercultural and societal healthcare studies”, foster the use of ICT for learning, exchange, collaboration in the healthcare sector, multiply and consolidate dialogue arenas among policy makers, students, researchers, healthcare professionals and citizens.
The virtual learning environment to be set up will include learning resources repositories, learners’ management facilities, virtual communities and other social software facilities.

Coordinator: Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany)

Partners:

Fondazione Angelo Celli per una cultura della salute (Italia)
University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg Stendal (Germany)
Dept. Of Sociology, National School Of Public Health – Greece
Scienter – Italia
Department of Etnology and Cultural Anthropology - University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts – Slovene
Department of Health Widening Participation in Learning Strategy Unit (England)

Duration: 24 months