MICRO DEGREES IN INNOVATIVE HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

PROFESSOR IN FOCUS

This academic year, the six partner institutions of the KU Leuven Association, in collaboration with the healthcare sector, started two interdisciplinary, modular courses via blended learning: a micro degree Health Innovation Facilitation and a micro degree Health Innovation Management. Hannelore Strauven (e-Media Research Lab – Group T Leuven Campus) coordinates the micro degree Management for executives.

Hannelore Strauven and Prof. Luc Geurts

© Julie Feyaerts

A micro degree stands for a compact, diploma-oriented program”, says Hannelore. “It is not a degree programme like a bachelor or a master, but the credits you obtain can be used in a regular programme, hence the name ‘diploma oriented’. A micro degree counts 20 to 30 credits, which corresponds with one third to half of a bachelor or master year”.

“The great advantage of a micro degree is its flexibility,” continues Hannelore. “Our target audience are professionals in the care and welfare sector. These people usually have irregular working hours. To enable them to combine work and education, the programme is modular and can be followed via blended learning. The student can choose between one or more modules or go for the full programme”.

Work field

The healthcare sector was actively involved in the development of both micro degrees. “In our case, they were the Vlaams Welzijnsverbond (Flemish Welfare Association), In4care and Zorgnet Icuro (Care network Icuro), each representing numerous care institutions”, says Hannelore. “The COVID-19 pandemic has ensured that, among other things, in the care of the elderly, youth care, care for the disabled and childcare, digitisation has penetrated at a rapid pace. The digital competencies of the employees have not evolved to the same extent everywhere. As a result, there is a great need for training and retraining in the field. But that is not all. The pandemic has exposed a general need for professionalisation throughout the sector. Microdegrees have therefore been launched at the right time.

Both programmes aim at their own target group. The micro degree Facilitation focuses on employees with a care, welfare, or technology profile. The micro degree Management focuses on professionals with a (strategic) policy function. “The first programme was developed by the five university colleges of the KU Leuven Association,” says Hannelore. “They have pooled their expertise to train employees to initiate or facilitate innovation projects or pathways. They are expected to fulfil a bridging function between the developers and the users. After all, it still takes too long before innovations penetrate professional practice and are used in the right place. The program of this micro degree consists of a common part and two clusters ‘Care & Welfare’ and ‘Technology’. The final piece is the development of a concrete case from practice”.

Two faculties

While the first micro degree initially targets mainly professional bachelors, the micro degree Management targets employees with a master’s degree. “This program is the product of the collaboration between the faculties of Medicine and Engineering Technology of KU Leuven,” explains Luc Geurts (e-Media Research Lab). “The students choose course units from the Master in Management and Policy of the health care, set up by the Faculty of Medicine, which they combine with the project subject Health Engineering Experience from the Advanced Master in Innovative Health Technology at Group T Leuven Campus, of which I am also the programme director. This Advanced Master is an international programme that focuses on the integration of technologies and methodologies into usable systems in the health sector.”

For those who already have an engineering degree, Luc has some good news: “He or she can select courses from the entire curriculum of the Advanced Master”.

Yves Persoons