This week’s post is all about International Mobility Weeks!
What are they?
International mobility weeks enable students from different locations to get together and exchange ideas about being an Occupational Therapist in their country. They consist of lectures, workshops and group activities, helping to develop a professional identity and understand alternative approaches to OT.
Each mobility week generally focuses on a particular topic, such as “Public Health” or “Primary Care” and would include relevant discussions about current issues or challenges within that sector. Throughout the mobility week, students would work together on a project and reflect on their learning and the benefits of sharing their ideas.
There are three mobility weeks each year:
- November in Amsterdam at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS)
- January in Winterthur at the ZHAW
- May in Stockholm at the Karolinska Institute
Lisa Poland, reflects on her experience in Switzerland!
In the week of 14th– 18th of January 2019 I went, together with three other students of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, to the mobility week in Switzerland. The university where the mobility week was held was the ZHAW in Winterthur. The theme of this week was ‘Professional Identity and it’s visibility’.
This course was only available for OT students and we talked about the contribution of Occupational Therapy compared to the other professions. We also discussed ways how we can promote Occupational Therapy throughout the world. During the course we worked together in different groups with students from different countries. This was very nice since everybody was very enthusiastic and open to new ideas. This also gave us the opportunity to discuss some of the differences in Occupational Therapy between our countries.
In the mobility week we completed multiple interactive assignments. These all contributed to the final product; which was a poster presentation. Before the presentation we needed to make a poster where we explained Occupational Therapy to a specific target group. During the presentation this poster was presented taking into account the target group to which the poster was addressed.
Beside the course we also had the chance to discover some of Switzerland. We walked around, went shopping in Winterthur and also visited the viewpoint, which gave us a beautiful outlook across town. This was very enjoyable, but there were also more attractions in Winterthur such as the different art museums and castles. As well as Winterthur, we also had the opportunity to see the biggest waterfall, the Rheinfall.
In short, it was a very interesting week which we were glad not to have missed! It was an enriching experience for each and every one of us and we would do it again in an instant!
I recommend everyone to participate in a mobility week so you can broaden your knowledge and learn about OT from different perspectives and cultures!
Greetings,
Lisa Poland
Second year BSc student at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
Feel free to contact me at lisa.poland@hva.nl if you have any questions 😊
Upcoming Mobility Week in Sweden!
The next mobility week will take place at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. The theme for the week is ‘Professional Identity from a Global Perspective’, and will include thought provoking seminars and lectures around current global health issues. The deadline to apply is 5thApril 2019.