RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) hosted its fourth annual International Education Forum which began on Monday 22nd June and ran until Friday, 26 June.

The Forum saw 28 staff from RCSI Bahrain and PU-RCSI Malaysia join with more than 130 colleagues in Dublin, in attending this year's meeting. Guests from the College's collaborative partnerships and clinical sites were also invited to attend a selection of open sessions throughout the week.

The theme of this year's Forum ‘Leadership in International Education' focused on contemporary developments in Health Professions Education and significant projects which are underway across the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in RCSI. One of the highlights of the week's proceedings was the International Medical Education Symposium, which took place on Thursday, 25th June. This year the theme of the symposium was ‘Developments in International Interprofessional Education (IPE)'.

This one-day symposium brought together ideas and activities developed in the RCSI curriculum and fused them with the perspectives of international speakers on the challenges and imperatives for IPE. Dr Frances Horgan, Vice-Dean for Interprofessional Education, RCSI gave the introductory address on the day. The meetings discussed the challenges and opportunities of IPE, as well as using IPE to enhance patient safety and creating an educational environment where IPE can thrive. Guest speakers on the day included Professor Liz Anderson, University of Leicester; Professor Maryellen Gusic, Association of American Medical Colleges; Maree Jensen, University of Auckland; and Dr Cristin Ryan, from Queen's University, Belfast.

Speaking on the symposium, Dr Horgan said, "Interprofessional Education, which is when two or more healthcare professionals learn with, from, and about each other in order to improve collaboration and the quality of care, is seen as practically and philosophically important since healthcare delivery is a multidisciplinary team effort and many problems influencing patient care are a result of poor team performance. It was a great opportunity to discuss all matters of IPE with my RCSI colleagues and our guest speakers."

Monday's School of Medicine meetings consisted of annual reviews and planning for the Junior and Intermediate Cycles. Tuesday's Faculty and Innovations session included guest speakers Mr Jon Phillips, MD, Dell Education who spoke at the ‘Next Generation Personalised Learning: How we transform Education' and Professor Mike Sharples, Professor of Education Technology, The Open University who discussed ‘Massive, open, global, blended: shaping the future of learning with technology'.

The programme also focused on ‘Vice-Dean Developments' which included a lecture from Professor Mike Larvin Head of Graduate Entry Medicine, University of Limerick, who spoke about ‘Making Your Training Really Count: Shared challenges for undergraduate education, post-graduate training and maintenance of practice [across healthcare]' curriculum. The programme concluded with Departmental Meetings & Networking Sessions, with the main session taking place in the RCSI Education & Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital.

Professor Hannah McGee, Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, RCSI said: “The International Education Forum provides an invaluable opportunity for our staff, who are based across campuses in three different time zones, to meet face-to-face and share their experiences during the past academic year and to facilitate further development of a common curriculum across three sites. We welcomed our international colleagues, collaborators, and guest speakers to RCSI in Dublin for the event and learned a lot from their perspective and expertise.”