European Masters Degree in Clinical Movement Analysis (CMAster) Project Number: 518545-LLP-1-2011-1-UKERASMUS- ECDSP Grant Agreement: 2011-3958/001-001 Sub-programme or KA: ERASMUS

Final Report Public Part

Project information

Project acronym: CMAster

Project title: European Masters Degree in Clinical Movement

Analysis

Project number: 518545-LLP-1-2011-1-UK-ERASMUS-ECDSP

Sub-programme or KA: ERASMUS

Project website: www.cmaster.eu

Reporting period: From 1/10/2012

To 30/11/2014

Report version: Version 1

Date of preparation: 15 December 2014

Beneficiary organisation: University of Salford

Project coordinator: Prof Richard Baker

Project coordinator organisation: University of Salford

Project coordinator telephone number: +44 (0)161 295 2465

Project coordinator email address: r.j.baker@salford.ac.uk

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 2008 Copyright Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency. The document may be freely copied and distributed provided that no modifications are made, that the source is acknowledged and that this copyright notice is included.

Executive Summary

Clinical movement analysis uses advanced technology to measure how people with limited walking abilities move. A biomechanical analysis of these data can guide prescription of a range of interventions (surgery, drug prescription, splinting or therapy) and evaluate outcomes. There is a small but growing demand for health professionals to work in this rapidly developing sub-speciality within Europe but no advanced education programmes to support them. This project is to establish the first masters level programme in clinical movement analysis anywhere in the world. The objectives of the project as agreed with the Lifelong Learning Programme are:

1. To develop a curriculum for a Joint Masters Degree in Clinical Movement Analysis through developing three parallel programmes within the partner institutions to commence in September 2014.

2. To develop a plan for integrating these into a joint masters degree to commence in 2017.

3. To develop programme specific shared services to support the implementation of the parallel programmes and to plan how generic service will need to be adapted to support the joint masters degree

4. To write a business plan for exploitation and sustainability. All four objectives have been met. The University of Salford enrolled its first students on a part-time work-based distance learning programme in 2013 and VU Amsterdam and KU Leuven on full-time residential programmes in 2014. All three programmes are covered by an Erasmus agreement for student mobility between universities of at least 3 months which is to be documented in a Diploma Supplement. The curriculum for a joint degree between University of Salford and VU Amsterdam (with KU Leuven providing additional learning resources) has been agreed along with a plan for this to be implemented from 2017. A feature of the project has been strong engagement with key stakeholders and the wider user community. There have been stakeholder meetings in Glasgow, Stockholm and at the project launch at the 1st Clinical Movement Analysis World Congress in Rome and two stakeholder consultations. The Stakeholder Directory is the most comprehensive listing of movement analysis services across Europe and the European Context Report a snapshot of that community and its education and training needs. That analysis revealed that a large majority of health professionals within clinical movement analysis already have a masters degree or higher in another discipline and that there is an additional market opportunity for masters level education delivered through more flexible continuing professional development activities rather than formal masters programmes. Out of the project has the vision has thus evolve to establish the CMAster Consortium as the worlds leading provider of advanced education and training in clinical movement analysis over the next five years.

Table of Contents

1. PROJECT OBJECTIVES .................................................................................... 5

2. PROJECT APPROACH ...................................................................................... 6

3. PROJECT OUTCOMES & RESULTS ................................................................. 7

4. PARTNERSHIPS ................................................................................................ 9

5. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE .............................................................................. 10

6. CONTRIBUTION TO EU POLICIES ................................................................. 11

7. EXTRA HEADING/SECTION ................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

1. Project Objectives

The primary objective was to develop a curriculum for a joint masters degree in Clinical Movement Analysis and the secondary objectives to establish support services and an exploitation plan to implement this. Out of these initial objectives has developed to vision to establish the CMAster consortium as the worlds leading provider of education and training in clinical movement analysis over the next five years.

Clinical movement analysis uses the same high technology approach used to capture the movements of actors to create animated movies to capture the movement of people with walking disabilities. The information is then used by a range of health professionals as a guide to prescribing treatment. There is a small but rapidly growing demand for health professionals specifically trained to perform movement analysis assessments and CMAster aims to establish a European programme of training and education at masters level to support them.

The new masters programme will be the first anywhere in the world to address the specific needs of the clinical movement analysis community. A particular challenge is that staff working in clinical movement analysis services tend to have either a clinical or technical background whereas what is required is staff educated and trained across the full spectrum of competencies. Graduates of the new programme will be the first of a new generation purposefully trained as specialist clinical gait analysts.

This technical/clinical divide is a particular issue for management of services with few service managers possessing a full spectrum of knowledge. As the new CMAster cohort moves to more senior positions they will be in a much better position to implement services of the very highest quality.

The end user is, of course, the citizen who has difficulty walking. Recent estimates suggest that 10% of the population find it difficult to walk 400m and this will increase with the ageing population, rising obesity and falling levels of exercise. CMAster is equipping a new generation of European clinical movement analysts to deliver services to support this population.

2. Project Approach

The project has three phases. The first two, Specification and Development, were funded by this grant. The third, Delivery, is continuing after funding has ended.

The Specification phase started with familiarisation. Three familiarisation meetings were used to cement relationships and promote the project within the various institutions. A range of information about existing resources and institution policies and procedures governing the introduction of new taught programmes was gathered. A survey of European clinical gait analysis services was also conducted to define the pattern of service delivery across Europe and identify the training needs within that community. This was followed up with in depth teleconference with selected services and wider discussion at meetings of both the associate partners and an open stakeholder consultation in Stockholm in 2012. This consultative process was used to define the core competencies required of a clinical movement analyst in the emerging European environment.

Having defined the requirement and the environment within this was to be delivered the Development phase commenced. Although the original grant envisaged direct planning of a full joint degree by all three partners it became clear that this was not possible as a short-term aim. The principal barrier to this was a legislation enacted in Belgium shortly after the application was lodged effectively preventing the creation of new international masters programmes. After consultation with the Lifelong Learning Programme it was agreed that the aims would be modified to planning for the delivery of a full joint programme between Salford and Amsterdam from 2017 and the development of three parallel programmes, one at each of the partner universities from 2014. These are linked both by aiming to delivering the same core competencies and by student mobility with the research components (about a third of the programme) being taken at a different university to the taught component.

During this phase the curricula for all three parallel programmes and for the full joint programme have been determined and the support services and quality assurance services essential to their delivery have been established. A repository for learning materials from all three institutions has been created and a web-site for the project has been developed. An exploitation plan to ensure the on-going sustainability of the project has also been developed which includes a comprehensive recruitment database.

Building on the success of the first two phases funded by the EU the partners have now embarked on the Delivery phase of the parallel programmes. The three year part-time programme at the University of Salford started enrolment in September 2013 and the full time programmes at VU Amsterdam and KU Leuven in 2014. The exploitation plan focussed on the consolidation of these for the next year followed by a two year programme leading to enrolment of the first students in the joint programme in September 2017.

3. Project Outcomes & Results

The early outcomes were largely internal. The familiarisation process resulted in the Institutional Mapping Report (Deliverable 2.2) describing the three institutions, their existing provision related to clinical movement analysis, their resources and the regulatory framework within which they operate. A Definitive Workplan (Deliverable 1.2) was prepared in two phases outlining the path through the Specification and Development phases. A later Exploitation Plan (Deliverable 8.1) maps out the process for continued and sustained development beyond the funding period.

A review of European clinical movement analysis services was conducted resulting in the European Context Report (Deliverable 3.1) which summarises the status of clinical movement analysis with Europe. This includes an in depth analysis of what services are being offered where by which professional groups as a reference document for defining the requirement for training and education at masters level. A parallel document, the Key Competencies Report (Deliverable 3.2) was developed in consultation with the wider community to define the key competences that are required of a clinical gait analyst. The Professional and Ethical Issues Report (Deliverable 6.2) identified a range of issues that will affect the delivery of masters level education in this area and proposes how these should be handled.

The short-term objective (after modifications agreed with the Lifelong Learning Programme) was the planning of three parallel programmes, one at each of the partner institutions with all offering training and education to deliver the same key competencies. Each programme builds on the strengths of the host university and allows for student mobility (a minimum of three months) for students to study at one of the partner universities.

These are now operating:

The University of Salford started to deliver a part-time work-based distance learning programme in September 2013. It lasts for two years and the first cohort of students are now nearing the half-way point of their studies.

VU Amsterdam are offering a Clinical Movement Analysis stream within their established Human Movement Science Research Masters programme which commenced in September 2014. It lasts for three semesters over 1 years.

KU Leuven have developed a new pathway within their Human Movement Science programme with a specialisation in Biomedical Kinesiology which also commenced in September 2014. It lasts for two years.

The parallel programmes increase student choice. Students wishing to study part-time whilst continuing to work are ideally served by the distance learning programme at the University of Salford. The other two Universities offer more conventional residential programmes with VU Amsterdam offering a more technical approach whereas KU Leuvens is more clinical. The content of the programmes is fully documented in the Curriculum (Deliverable 3.3) and there is a separate deliverable describing Support Services (Deliverable 4).

A specific finding of the European Context Report is that a large majority of staff working in clinical movement services within Europe have moved into the field mid-career. The majority already have a masters or higher degree (in another discipline) but still perceive the need for advanced education and training in clinical movement

analysis. This has led the CMAster Consortium to develop a programme of short courses to support continuing professional development to run alongside the Masters programme. Two three day courses have been run as part of this programme (total of 58 delegates from 14 different countries) and another two are planned.

The longer-term objective is to deliver a joint programme between the University of Salford and VU Amsterdam. The Exploitation Plan (Deliverable 8.1) provides a road map to achieve this through a two year development programme commencing in 2015 with the aim of the first students enrolling in September 2017.

The project has worked hard to involve stakeholders and develop the profile of the CMAster consortium within the European clinical movement analysis community. There have been three Stakeholder Meetings (in Glasgow, Stockholm and Rome, Deliverables 5.2a,b and c) and two Stakeholder Consultations (Deliverables 5.3a and b). A Stakeholder Directory (Deliverable 5.1) was compiled and this has now been further developed to form the Recruitment database (Deliverable 8.2). The formal launch (Deliverable 8.3) consolidated the profile of the project within European Clinical Movement through integration within the formal programme of the 1st Clinical Movement Analysis World Congress in Rome in October 2014.

The project has also delivered key advancements in on-line collaboration. The Virtual Workspace (Deliverable 7.1) has combined on-line file sharing and tele-conferencing facilities to provide a platform for virtual steering group meetings on a monthly basis through much of the project. All three partners use the Blackboard (Toledo) virtual learning environment so less work was required on developing a common system than had been envisaged (Deliverable 7.2). A repository has been developed to allow sharing of learning materials. One of the most exciting deliverables has been the development of new Data Exchange Tools (Deliverable 7.3). Whilst these have been designed for the specific requirements of education in clinical movement analysis they have been found to have much wider application whenever students and teachers want to share access to a wider range of software resources by creating a virtual desktop imaging tool.

4. Partnerships

The partners are three European Universities (Salford, VU Amsterdam and KU Leuven) with an established interested in education and research in this discipline area. VU Amsterdam has the one of the largest faculties of Human Movement Science in Europe. KU Leuven is widely recognised as operating the most advanced clinical gait analysis services and Prof Desloovere has been instrumental in developing the premier international short course (3 days) in clinical movement analysis with leading institutions in the United States. The University of Salford is internationally renowned for its clinical biomechanics and has Professor Baker who has recently been appointed as the Worlds first Professor of Clinical Gait Analysis. The lead partners at each institution were well known to each other before the project and these relationships have been consolidated through the project. This has been complemented by other with specialist expertise such as Kirsten Bijker, (Education Director, Faculty of Human Movement Science), Stijn Van Laer (Audio-Visual and New Educational Technologies, Leuven).

The project is embedded within the European movement analysis community. The partners are all respected leaders of that community (Prof Harlaar is currently President of the European Society for Movement Analysis in Adults and Children). The Associate Partner network has created formal links with all the regional and national academic societies and a majority of clinical services and industry across the EU. The network of partners is strongest in the larger more establish states but extends to new member states. This reflects the current status of clinical movement analysis within Europe and is likely to be an important stimulus for progressing the field particularly within the developing states.

There is strong support for the CMAster initiative with in the Clinical Movement Analysis community across Europe both for what it can achieve directly through its provision of education but also through its potential to reinforce links across that community through encouraging staff mobility through clinical placements and internships.

Perhaps the biggest added value of working with multi-country partnerships is the establishment of a critical mass for educational provision in this area. It is a niche professional specialisation and educational provision within any single country would not be economically viable. It is only through working at a multi-country level that progress in this area is possible at all.

5. Plans for the Future

The Exploitation Plan (Deliverable 8.1) maps out a vision for the CMAster consortium to become the worlds leading provider of advanced (masters level) education and training in clinical movement analysis over the next five years.

The first stage of this is the consolidation of the three new parallel programmes which have all now commenced and will all produce their first graduates in 2016. Full evaluation of two Pilot Modules (Deliverables 3.6a and b) have been conducted and used to enhance programme design. A Steering Group has been formally constituted to review progress and ensure continuing convergence to these programmes. Within the Exploitation Plan is a marketing plan focussing on active promotion using the Recruitment Database (Deliverable 8.2), taster experiences and the External Face to the Virtual Learning Environment (Deliverable 5.6).

The Exploitation Plan also outlines a programme leading through to the introduction of the new joint masters programme in clinical movement analysis to enrol its first students in September 2017. This involves three phases over the next three years. The first is a reflection phase on what can be learnt from the first year delivering the three parallel programmes. The second requires detailed planning focussing of how modified timetabling requirements will be managed and of how governance requirements of both universities will be fulfilled. This will lead to formal ratification of the programme by both universities in September 2016 giving a year for further refinement before the first students are commence their studies.

Alongside this will be the development of a range of short courses for continuing professional development. An important part of this will be the exploitation of conventional routes within the UK to deliver components of a full masters programme for lesser qualifications (PGCert, PGDip). Such provision is likely to appeal to health professionals within Europe who may have little interest in obtaining a formal masters degree (because they already have one) but are still committed to pursuing education in clinical movement analysis at this advanced level. This will be particularly powerful if it can build on the work-based distance learning techniques that have been developed through the CMAster project.

6. Contribution to EU policies

This project arose from a consideration of the changing needs of the healthcare workforce as envisaged Health and Social Services: Comprehensive sectoral analysis of emerging competences and economic activities in the European Union (2009). This identified Health Associate Professionals (HAPs) as the fastest growing professional group and technical knowledge to guarantee state-of-the-art services as their primary requirement. Increasing specialisation across multi-disciplinary domains poses a specific challenge. Key recommendations of New Skills for New Jobs: Action Now (2010) were that we need to make education and training more flexible and more open for innovation and enhance relationships between skills providers and employers and establish skills-based qualifications.

Clinical movement analysis is a particularly good example of such an emerging high technology field within healthcare and the CMAster project is thus directly addressing these policy objectives. By nature new and emerging technologies within health care tend to be niche activities and the CMAster project will have a wider role in establishing a model for educational provision to support development in unrelated areas but which have similar characteristics.

Whilst joint degrees are important instruments for implementing the objectives set out in the Bologna Declaration and Prague Communiqu it is clear from our experience that individual higher education institutes are less enthusiastic about their implementation than are the European authorities. Our experience is that this is particularly challenging for smaller programmes aimed at small user communities which cannot guarantee institutions substantial return on investment. This is a particular concern given that one of the potential strengths of joint programmes must be to deliver specific educational provision to small user communities that would not be viable at national level. The experience of this consortium in pushing this particular proposal though to a full joint programme will thus contribute to realising the full potential that joint programmes within Europe have to offer.