Two members of our podiatry team, Maria Young and Barbara Wall, recently took part in an Erasmus teaching staff exchange to Malta. Both conducted three sessions of teaching at the University of Malta to various year groups on the podiatry degree.
This is the second year that this exchange has taken place with the formal arrangement having been set up for the 2011-12 academic year. The two institutions already had links as some of the Maltese staff completed their doctorate at the University of Brighton. The head of the podiatry department at the University of Malta, Dr Cynthia Formosa, and her colleague Dr Alfred Gatt visited the School of Health Professions in November 2012.
Barbara Wall, senior lecturer, said: "The Maltese podiatry undergraduate course has a much smaller cohort and provides an interesting comparison for teaching methods employed by the University of Brighton. There was no requirement for linguistic preparation as all teaching is carried out in English, however we made a point of researching any cultural differences that may affect our teaching."
The next project is to establish a full Erasmus exchange for students studying at the two institutions. Discussions were held with Dr Formosa and her team around the challenges of setting up a full semester Erasmus exchange for students from the University of Brighton and the University of Malta.
Maria Young, senior lecturer, added: "This is not without challenges, because of the professional elements of our courses which in the UK has input from the Health and Care Professions Council and our professional body. The Maltese have similar challenges, but after full discussions we believe we have made good progress and that an exchange might be in place for the 2014-15 academic year. This exchange would be the first for podiatry in the UK, previous exchanges having been centred around clinical placement only, so this is a very exciting development and one the podiatry staff and students are very much looking forward to."
