Project ref. №: 586403-EPP-1-2017-1-PS-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP 

Implementation period: 10.2017-09.2020

Financed by: ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME

Project overview:

The i-CARE project is led by the leading organization Al-Azhar University-Gaza – Palestine in partnership with 7 other organizations:

- The Islamic University of Gaza – Palestine

- UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF APPLIED SCIENCES – Palestine

- El-Wafa Medical Rehab and specialized surgery hospital - Palestine

- Dublin City University - Ireland

- „Angel Kanchev" University of Ruse – Bulgaria

- University Rehabilitation Institute - Republic of Slovenia

- Bulgarian Association for Transfer of Technology and Innovation- BATTI – Bulgaria

 

The i-CARE project aims to bridge the gap between rehabilitation technology and science education at the Palestinian universities and the rehabilitation procedures and practices at the Palestinian rehabilitation service providers. Therefore, the aim at end of the project is that, raise and improve the knowledge, skills and abilities of academic staff member, rehabilitation professional, students of respective departments to meet the recommended standards by EU partners and experts in the fields of rehabilitation technology and sciences.

The specific objectives of i-CARE project include:

1. To develop rehabilitation technology and science courses and improve academic programs to suit teaching of rehabilitation technology and sciences at partner universities according to EU standards.
2. To qualify academic staff, rehabilitation professionals and students in the field of rehabilitation technology and sciences.
3. To develop the curricula for four academic departments at the Palestinian partner universities to become adequate to teaching rehabilitation technology and sciences.
4. To develop rehabilitation treatment and training lab at partner rehabilitation service provider and make it accessible to partner universities’ staff and students through the partnership.
5. To boost the practical performance of academics, professionals and students in the rehabilitation technology and sciences field and applications.
6. To enhance the networking of higher education sector in the rehabilitation technology sector on the national and international levels.

 

Expected Results:

1. To localize the rehabilitation technology education and practice in Palestine with EU standards;
2. Selected academic staff members will receive tailored training in the fields of rehabilitation sciences and technologies at EU partner universities. This training will enable academic staff to deliver specialized courses in the fields of rehabilitation from practical, scientific and technological perspectives, and it will also enable them to modify the existing bachelor academic programs
3. professional training at EU partners to gain required practical knowledge to locally apply and spread rehabilitation practices and to develop practice manuals in accordance with EU standards
4. Students will also have a chance to get a practical training with the local partner on real patient cases using state-of-the-art knowledge and equipment.
5. The project also aims to have impacts on; patients by making better rehabilitation practices and technological products available raising the quality of their lives.

6. The project will also have a positive impact on a wide range of stakeholders; local universities, local medical equipment suppliers, ministries of health, education and welfareThis will be through increasing the awareness of rehabilitation technology and the potentials that lie in investment, education and research in this field. The local community in general will benefit from better service and products that can be provided in the academia as well as hospital.

First transnational project meeting in Dublin, Ireland

The partner organisations of i-CARE met in Dublin, Ireland from 11/07/2018 to 13/07/2018 in DCU Ireland in order to continue its work on this project focused on designing detailed action plan for training in EU of WP2.

DCU Ireland, the Irish partner of the project, was responsible of hosting the first transnational meeting of i-CARE that met together representatives of all the project partners. The meeting had as objective to work on detailed action plan for training. During the meeting the project partners were able to share ideas and do proposals for gaining more efficient results of project deliverables. Meeting consisted of presentations of each partner organization, open discussion and workshops on proposed training titles. Partners participated in brainstorming and analysis of the training need and the proposed training titles based on priority and the responsible body.

i-CARE is a 36-month project funded under the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission coordinated by Al-Azhar University-Gaza – Palestine in cooperation with The Islamic University of Gaza – Palestine, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF APPLIED SCIENCES – Palestine, El-Wafa Medical Rehab and specialized surgery hospital – Palestine, Dublin City University – Ireland, „Angel Kanchev" University of Ruse – Bulgaria, University Rehabilitation Institute - Republic of Slovenia and Bulgarian Association for Transfer of Technology and Innovation- BATTI – Bulgaria.