Ruddy Verbinnen

Quality Assurance Life Sciences Education, EHSAL, EhB and Network Palliative Care Flanders

Ruddy Verbinnen joined the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 1989. He is working on quality assurance in life sciences education since February 2010. Before that he was involved in Academic Career Consultancy (2005-2010), working on the implementation of the Bologna Process on the institutional and departemental level (Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy). He was involved in European research on the implementation of ECTS in European Medical Schools and author of several publications on flexility and mobility in higher education. He has been working on gathering reliable information about how the European Higher Education is being developed in Medical, Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Education. He is an expert on the Bologna Process, especially ECTS, recognition of qualifications and mobility. He was also involved in the Thematic Network MEDINE, and a member in the MEDINE 2 (http://medine2.com/ ), he is a member of the Executive Committee in the Multilateral Project Pharmaceutical education in Europe (PHARMINE http://www.pharmine.org/ ) and a member of the Executive Board of the ECTS Medicine Association (www.ects-ma.org), he is vice-president of the Dutch-Flemish assembly on Internationalisation in Medical Education. As an Academic Career Consultant (2005-2010), Ruddy Verbinnen paid attention to the policy development of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in regarding to the Bologna Process. He is responsible for the study trajectory of 1500 students at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy. Previous to this he held a number of positions in higher education at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the Erasmus Hogeschool Brussel (EhB) and the Hogeschool Universiteit Brussel (HUB) teaching Scientific Methodology, Sociology and the organization of Palliative Care. His research topics are Medicalization, Palliative Care, Quality of Life, Health Technology Assessment, Prevention. A graduate of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel he spent his early career as a scientific staff member of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, resulting in a PhD on Medicalization in Palliative Care (2005). He is looking forward to the coming of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).