IDEAL meets ECTS-MA

Erika Vieghe and Annelies Mondelaers, teachers at Universiteit Antwerp and doctors at Universitair Ziekenhuis Antwerpen (Antwerp University Hospital) along with Magdalena Van Eeckhout and Audrey Rameau of the International Relations Office of the School of Medicine of Université Paris Cité, introduced the IDEAL program to the ECTS Medical Association annual conference at University of Antwerp last month.

What is ECTS Medical Association?

ECTS-MA is an association gathering members of the international offices of the European medical faculties. Founded in 2004, it counts more than 50 participating institutions. The community aims at improving, developing and  promoting the medical students’ mobilities within the European Union using the European Credits Transfer System (ECTS).

The conference the association organized each year is the occasion to meet and share experiences and good practices with colleagues from over Europe. The 2025 meeting took place in University of Antwerp for 3 days (24-26 April), allowing participants to join in workshops, conferences and meet and greet.

Introducing IDEAL to the European universities 

Thanks to the impulse of Dimitri Merxhem de Geelhand, conductor of the ECTS-MA meeting and driving force of the IDEAL program in Belgium, IDEAL was one of the topics presented during the conference morning of April, 26^th.

From the first ID3Cs (International Intensive Infectious Diseases Course) in 2014 to the first application for an European project (Erasmus+ Action Key 2) in 2016, by way of the first advanced training students sessions and Train the Trainers” seminars and new partnerships, the members of the association found out about the whole story of the program. The speakers pointed at the difficulties and challenges encountered as well as the big successes.

A moment was dedicated to present more precisely the different IDEAL activities implemented since the very beginning (students training sessions, “Train the Trainers”, summer schools, e-learning platform).

A special focus has been made on the importance of the dissemination throughout Europe and the necessity to build solid relations with the partners in order to build a successful program.

It was also the occasion for the members of the associations to discover and ask questions about the Erasmus+ Action Key2 project, many of them not being familiar with this practice.

Introducing IDEAL to the community of the European medical schools was a way to shed light on the work done every day by the health professionals of the program to promote innovative teaching and offer a chance to students to enjoy internationalization at home and perhaps to inspire colleagues to develop their own project.