International Higher Education Teacher Award ^2024/25

The University of Pécs Medical School (UPMS) provides training equally in Hungarian, in English, and in German for future doctors, dentists and pharmacists. The School’s training is enjoying significant international recognition and with our 3500 students of 67 nationalities who study here in the Hungarian, German and English programmes, the University of Pécs has a huge role in the city’s and the country’s internationalization. Our Hungarian and international students have numerous opportunities not only at the university but also in city life to feel welcome and at home. Such programs make them feel included, so diversity as a beautiful and colourful world opens in front of our eyes when we enter the gate of UPMS.   One of our best practices is the student-centred PROFEX (PROficiency EXamination) which is an English for Medical Purposes (EMP) bilingual testing system offering language tests for medical and paramedical professionals. The three levels, B1, B2 and C1, were defined in accordance with the recommendations of the Council of Europe described in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. PROFEX exams are administered in more than 20 exam sites. As the main outcome, successful exams are certified by official language certificates issued in four languages. Another good practice we use is POTEPEDIA which is the unique digital project of medical training in Pécs. Our tool is a complete and expanding, constantly updated curriculum system and knowledge network. Its operation is supported by the work of the professional creative community of the Medical School and the active cooperation of its students. The platform has a huge importance in preparing successfully to the different exams of our students, thus the main outcome is the high rate of successfully completed exam periods. As the pandemic has had a huge impact on our lives and education, it has brought the slumbering online world of assessing roaring alive, fully operational and now bears phenomenal relevance in today’s global education, making us use online, student-centred platforms as MS Teams' Assignment function, Quizlet's Test function and our own online e-learning portal, medicalhungarian.aok.hu. All of the previously mentioned practices bear clearly positive and useful outcomes for our students in having learning material online, accessible anytime, anywhere.

Methodology

1. The first practise I would like to describe is our unique and innovative PROFEX exam (PROficiency EXamination) which is an English for Medical Purposes (EMP) bilingual testing system offering language tests for medical and paramedical professionals. Regarding this assessment tool, there are three levels, B1, B2 and C1, which were defined in accordance with the recommendations of the Council of Europe described in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The PROFEX Exam Center is located at the Faculty of General Medicine, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary. PROFEX exams are administered in more than 20 exam sites. Successful exams are certified by official language certificates issued in four languages. Since PROFEX is meant to measure English for Medical Purposes language skills, it is recommended for medical and paramedical professionals including biomedical researchers, physicians, pharmacists, dentists, nurses, physiotherapists, dietitians and other health care professionals, as well as students of medicine and allied health sciences. 2. Supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, a project consortium from five European countries are currently developing a framework for standardised computer-based examinations to assess and certify the ability of health professionals who are not English native speakers to communicate in English a professional context. The International Medical English Testing System (IMETS) is intended to promote, assess and certify the command of professional English among health care professionals worldwide. It will enable medical universities, hospitals and other health institutions where English is the language of communication who plan to employ staff, research fellows or externs with sound information about their English language proficiency in a professional context. The project has been granted financial support by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme: Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practice – Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education. Grant Agreement no 2018-1-PL01-KA203-050990. http://medicalenglishtests.eu/ 3. POTEPEDIA is the unique digital project of medical training in Pécs. Our tool is a complete and expanding, constantly updated curriculum system and knowledge network helping students to successfully prepare for the assessment in their exam periods. Its planning, implementation and operation is supported by the work of the professional creative community of the Medical School and the active cooperation of its students. 4. Another special tool and method to help our students is our e-learning portal, where students can find online material for the Hungarian for Medical Purposes assessment, along with ready-to-use pretests to practise for the assessment. 5. A simulation patient training program has been launched at the Department of Languages for Biomedical Purposes and Communication, which aims to improve the terminology and communication skills of the students studying in three different languages of instruction (English, German and Hungarian) at our School in order to be even better prepared for our student-centred assessment system. The colleagues of the Institute would like to make the teaching of obtaining the anamnesis and patient information in pre-clinical and clinical medical language classes even more practically oriented with involving non-professionals and actors.

Tools, equipment, technology used

1. Profex assesses test takers’ abilities in listening, reading, writing and speaking. The Listening, Reading and Writing components of Profex are completed on the same day, with no breaks in between them. The total test time of these three components is 3 hours. The Speaking component, however, can be completed up to a week prior to the other tests. Your exam site will offer additional advice. The Listening component has two sections. The questions of section 1 are based on a monologue on a medical subject. In section 2, there is a conversation between a patient and a health care professional. This component assesses test takers’ ability to understand the main ideas, detailed factual information and the opinions and attitudes of speakers. The Reading component consists of tasks that test a wide range of reading skills. These include reading for gist, reading for main ideas, reading for detail, skimming, and understanding logical argument. In this component, test takers are required to read two different texts on medical subjects. These are extracts from books, magazines, journals, handbooks, patients’ information leaflets, etc. These are materials health care professionals are likely to encounter on a daily basis in an English-speaking environment. In the Writing component, test takers are required to write an official letter and an official e-mail. These may include a conference application, a job application, an invitation letter, a referral, a recommendation letter and a case study. The Speaking component assesses test takers’ use of spoken English. It consists of three parts: Part 1 - the examiner will ask the test taker general questions about him or herself including a range of familiar topics, such as work, studies and research fields. This part lasts between 2 and 6 minutes (depending on the level of the exam). Part 2 - the test taker is required to role-play two dialogues with the examiner (health care professional - patient and health care professional - health care professional) on the basis of the prompts provided on the cards the test taker selected at the beginning of the Speaking component. The test taker has 1-2 minutes to prepare for each dialogue and 1-5 minutes to role play each dialogue (depending on the level of the exam). Part 3 - the test taker is required to describe a graph (B1 and B2) or give a presentation (C1) on a medical subject the test taker selected at the beginning of the Speaking component. The test taker has 1-2 minutes to prepare and 1-6 minutes to give the presentation (depending on the level of the exam). 2. The International Medical English Testing System (IMETS)'s tools are innovative, and its novelty lies in the following: Exam specifications will be a document providing precise guidelines concerning the format of the exam and will specify how the process of the item writing should be organised. Exam specifications will be developed for each exam paper (reading, listening, writing and speaking) and for each level (B1, B2, Cl). It offers training module for exam developers, guidelines for exam validation which is a document describing in detail all quality assurance measures that need to be taken while developing the IMETS examination system. They include recommendations concerning internal and external validation procedures for all types of exam papers at all stages of their development and implementation. It also has a booklet for exam takers, which includes the detailed description of each exam paper, the practical information for candidates such as the registration procedure, assessment procedure and certificates. Technical aspects of taking the exam will be also explained. Lastly, it has a training module for examiners which includes the guidelines for the assessment of exam papers in accordance with the CEFR descriptors for the medical domain. All training materials will be implemented in an interactive form on an online platform. 3. PotePedia is a learning material system and educational tool supporting medical students of the UP Medical School. A multilingual knowledge base that is constantly updated and in line with our current training order, a logical and information network that shows the connections between the disciplines. For the first time in Hungarian medical education, the UP MS provides the opportunity to organize and make available to its students the many decades of educational experience and the best training materials in medical culture in one place, using modern tools and processing methods, from the day the students enter the School to the day they become a doctor. Due to the enthusiastic collaboration of hundreds of instructors, and volunteer students under their guidance, we have put together a subject knowledge and a key thematic connection network to help study, understand and master the steps of becoming a doctor throughout the line of assessments.

Outcomes and outputs, main results

The most important outcomes and outlines can be visible and measurable in the form of feedback from students and assessors in the results of offline and online questionnaires carried out for gaining better teaching, assessing and research results. Please find results and our publications in the additional information section.

Lessons learnt

The most important aspects of all of the above-mentioned best practices are the following: They include texts and tasks authentic to the health care profession. They are designed to assess how learners use English to communicate in real-life situations relevant to the medical profession. They provide a valid and accurate assessment of the four language skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking, aligned to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, the international standard for describing language ability. These assessment tools are supported by a range of learning and teaching resources. and are excellent tools to help students understand how the disciplines are built on one another, have an easy yet deepened connection to the intellectual base gathered and continually improved during education. To err is human, and we all learn from our mistakes - all you need is courage.

Adaptability and sustainability of the best practice (for other institutions)

1. PROFEX is accepted by more and more employers and Medical Universities throughout the European Union. With its significantly higher specificity, PROFEX can predict the quality of a candidate’s future communicative behavior in medical professional settings with greater accuracy and reliability compared to other general purpose language proficiency tests. PROFEX applies texts and tasks authentic to the health care profession. It is designed to assess how learners use English to communicate in real-life situations relevant to the medical profession. PROFEX provides a valid and accurate assessment of the four language skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking. It is aligned to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), the international standard for describing language ability. We, at the Department of Languages for Biomedical Purposes and Communication (LBPC) at the University of Pécs Medical School (UPMS) have a mission. Our primary objectives focus upon the education and research among the various fields of Languages for Specific Purposes and Communication (LSPC) in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and health sciences. Additionally, LBPC strives towards developing, nurturing and monitoring the attending examination protocol regarding Languages for Biomedical Purposes. Our vision is to professionally enhance, inspire and strengthen the essence regarding our clientele's strategic use of languages for a specific purpose in areas of biomedicine and academic research, duly anointing each candidate enrolled in our programs regarding the development of their language skills acquisition with verve, and confidence. Our strategic goals are to exemplify and demonstrate the benefits regarding a favourable impact upon the institute and its student population, fulfilling the academic needs among both local and international students, instructors and clinicians participating in various international programs offered at UPMS. Additionally, we strive towards elevating the profile regarding research conducted at LBPC, ushering in a delivery resplendent with professionalism, ingenuity, and creativity. Lastly, our annual ambition is to review and revitalize our hybrid educational materials, enhance our online presence as educators, address lessons learned in the past ten months and improve the exam methodology to assure all are aligned with the resources demanded by an increasingly digital world.

Promotion of best practice

All of the mentioned best practices are promoted not only on our university websites and newsletters but also on local and national media, social media and printed media as well. Larger national and international programs and projects receive an international promotion, too. The outreach and impact of the promotion activities mean that these best practices can be read and used by educators in universities all over the world. Our educators are active researchers, too, participating on numerous national and international conferences where they make new connections and gain a broader knowledge in their field of studies. Most of our colleagues have publications on the above-mentioned topics in national and international journals and conference proceedings. Please fund some of our publications in the additional information section.

Scope and impact

• Course/department level
• Faculty level
• Institutional level
• Cross-institutional level
• National level
• EU/EHEA/International level

Today's online world challenges us all, but let us not forget about other challenges, like special needs. Profex and IMETS are both designed to be fair tests. Test takers’ English language ability is assessed objectively, regardless of any special requirements they may have. The test centres make every effort to care for these special requirements. The test taker is required to provide an individual request and a valid expert opinion (medical certificate) submitted to the attention of the director of the test centre, who then is required to answer in writing and, if at all possible, arrange for exam conditions appropriate for the specific disability, such as disabled people, test takers with visual or hearing impairments, test takers with learning difficulties (dyslexia or dysgraphia). PROFEX is recognized as being fair to all test takers irrespective of their cultural background, gender or special needs. PROFEX is subject to the highest quality controls and security procedures, such as rigorous procedures for checking and verifying test takers’ identity and double marking.

6.1 Digitalization

• Outstanding, innovative, excellent practices of online / blended / hybrid learning
• Innovative, novel methodology in using digital tools/devices in teaching
• Digital skills development and assessment both general and profession-related, embedded in course design, in teaching and assessment
• Novel digital solutions (tools, frameworks, devices, tasks to enhance efficiency and motivation)
• Digital scientific sources used in T&L

Reasoning: POTEPEDIA is the unique digital project of medical training in Pécs being one of the great milestones towards the process of studying leading to assessment. Our tool is a complete and expanding, constantly updated curriculum system and knowledge network. Its operation is supported by the work of the professional creative community of the Medical School and the active cooperation of its students.

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6.2 Internationalization

• Outstanding practices of international online collaborative learning
• Developing students' multicultural awareness
• Students engagement in international projects
• Courses implemented in international cooperation (projects, co-teaching, virtual/blended mobility, etc.)
• Courses offered to international multicultural students both online and offline

Reasoning: UPMS is a citadel of education, research, and health care. We are building a special School with special people. Teachers, healing professionals, students, administrative staff are our partners in this. We are doing this in order to meet our social mission, namely, to fulfil the high, internationally recognized standards of medical education and to provide research with innovative thinkers. The principles of “Learning, Healing & Development” guide us in being international in assessment as well.

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6.3 Inclusion and diversity, universal design

• Inclusive course design, universally designed divers activities to meet special students' needs
• Universally designed teaching material - adjustable for special needs
• Innovative teaching methodology for inclusion and meet diverse student needs
• Alternative, flexible assessment methods for students with special needs

Reasoning: PotePillars is a strategic program developing the complex, personalised learning culture at the faculty. There is a change of paradigms: switching from teaching culture to learning culture. The program is creating commitment via ensuring that every faculty member continuously “learns” from each other, promoting development. There is the support of new learning methodologies, providing students, educators and administrative workers with the opportunity to try these models within assessment, too.

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6.4 Sustainability

• Sustainability goals are addressed in the course(s)
• Teaching material contains profession related sustainability aspects
• Extra-curricular student activities for sustainability
• Environmental attitude, skill development and assessment either general or profession-related
• Sustainability aspects are considered in all phases of the learning practice - "hidden curriculum"

Reasoning: The idea of the “Green University” at the University of Pécs is a complex system including built environment, ecologically conscious operation and maintenance, the formation and the creation of a sustainable educational and research background. Nearly 200 courses are dealing with environmental issues and sustainable development at the university at present. Significant financial resources have been invested into research and the number of publications on the topic is remarkable.

3.3 Public contact datas

Name	Email address	Website
Renáta Nagy	renata.nagy@aok.pte.hu	https://aok.pte.hu/en/egyseg/60