Fiocruz offers transversal discipline to foreign students

In one more initiative of articulation for teaching, Fiocruz shares its capacity and resources with international partners. From March 22^nd, 40 students of the Master's in Public Health, from the Faculty of Social Sciences, University Lúrio (Unilúrio), in Mozambique (Africa) will attend the course Scientific Research Methodology - already offered in a transversal way for different Foundation courses. The classes will be taught by professors from the Aggeu Magalhães Institute (Fiocruz Pernambuco), under the leadership of the assistant general coordinator of Education at Fiocruz, Eduarda Cesse. Two other courses are already planned to be offered to the same group of students throughout 2021.

This is the first time that Fiocruz offers a transversal discipline for a university abroad. The offer will be made in a hybrid format, using self-instructional content and synchronous moments, with teachers, remotely, through the Zoom Platform.

Eduarda Cesse said that the class started their academic activities in 2020, but, surprised by the Covid-19 pandemic, they were unable to proceed with the face-to-face meetings. "Having said that, the University asked us for support, using our expertise to overcome difficulties it faced in terms of adapting and using remote teaching methodologies," she said.

Other disciplines are already in development for specific offerings in this course throughout 2021: Principles of Epidemiology and Demography, presented by professors from the Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health (Ensp / Fiocruz), and Self-care related to fertility, reproduction and gynecological health, by professors from the National Institute of Women, Child and Adolescent Health Fernandes Figueira (IFF / Fiocruz), which will be offered remotely. These teachers will also contribute with classes in the subject of Nutrition in pregnancy and childhood, which will be conducted by Unilúrio.

Setting and access to new tools

To assist the 40 students and coordinators of the African class in the process of presenting, setting, and using the new tools and Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), the Fiocruz Virtual Campus technical team offered two training sessions to the participants of the disciplines, in which they were presented to the interaction platforms and the material deposits, among other important tools for the full use of the discipline.

Adjustments to the main project

The partnership with Unilúrio was based on the Health Research and Training Network Project: south-south cooperation between Fiocruz and Mozambican institutions, approved in the Edital Coopbrass Capes n. 05/2019, under the coordination of the vice president of Education, Information and Communication of Fiocruz, Cristiani Vieira Machado. According to Cesse, it originally deals with mobility issues for students and teachers, that were postponed to a second moment because of the pandemic. “With the health crisis, we incorporated cross-cutting disciplines, which were not part of the scope of the project, but are necessary at this time that the world is living”, described Cesse.

In addition to Unilúrio, the articulation with Fiocruz in this project also includes the National Institute of Health (INS), of Mozambique. The structuring of south-south cooperation, a guideline for Fiocruz's international action proposed in the project, seeks to break with the traditional and unidirectional model of knowledge and technology transfer, seeking to prioritize the use of capacity and resources of partner countries.

This project is aimed at developing research and training managers, researchers, and students in two strategic areas: infectious, neglected diseases and health emergencies; and strengthening health systems. It is believed that it will allow advances in the training of human resources and will contribute to the consolidation of already existing research networks and the training of qualified personnel in the region.

Cross-cutting disciplines at Fiocruz

The guiding criteria for the offer of transversal disciplines are the choice of topics that are relevant and interesting for a significant number of students in strict and lato sensu graduate programs at Fiocruz; the existence of teachers with high expertise in the subject for the formulation and general coordination of the discipline; production in hybrid formats: possibility of articulating EAD content with interaction activities (face-to-face moments, workshops, seminars, debate forum, decentralized tutoring); and elaboration of the final evaluation.