Erasmus+ Program: Sharing European Educational Experience in Public Health for Israel

The School of Public Health at the University of Haifa has received the Erasmus+ European funding for a three-year joint project with Israeli and European Public Health schools for a program entitled Sharing European Educational Experience in Public Health for Israel (SEEEPHI). The Erasmus+ funding program is the European Union program established to support education and training and promote collaborations between Israeli and European high education institutes.

The joint project’s overall aim is an enhancement of the public health workforce in Israel through sharing European educational experience, including Harmonization, Employability, Leadership, and Outreach.

The project consortium is made up of the Association of Schools of Public Health in Europe and 8 Israeli and European high education institutes: Ben-Gurion University, the Hebrew University, Haifa University, Ashkelon Academic College, Maastricht University (Netherlands), Cork University (Ireland), The Swedish Red Cross University (Sweden) and Jagiellonian University (Poland). The Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians is also a partner in the project.

The project is creating and strengthen academic connections between the University of Haifa and other local and international high education institutes. 

The project

Prof.  Ted Tulchinsky had a vision: an international project for supporting the public health workforce in Israel through sharing European educational experience. However, the journey from a vision to a funded project was fraught with challenges. After a long period of preparations and several drafts, the kickoff meeting of the project was initiated by Ashkelon Academic College in November 2018. In the meeting, delegations participated from Ben-Gurion University of The Negev, Haifa University, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Israeli branch of Erasmus+ as well as guests that the college invited from abroad – representatives from Maastricht University and the Association of Schools of Public Health in European Region (ASPHER).

Almost two years after this landmark meeting, the consortium received the excellent news of receiving full funding through the Erasmus+ initiative for the SEEEPHI project. During the COVID-19 crisis, in August 2020, the vision of Prof. Tulchinsky began to come to fruition.

The SEEEPHI Capacity Building project focuses on strengthening academic connections between Israeli and international high education institutes and aims to help the public health workforce to meet the needs of potential employers as well as the new challenges of the recent health crisis. The consortium is led by ASPHER and eight Israeli and European high education institutes: Ben-Gurion University, the Hebrew University, Haifa University, Ashkelon Academic College, Maastricht University (Netherlands), Cork University (Ireland), The Swedish Red Cross University (Sweden) and Jagiellonian University (Poland). The Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians is also a partner in the project.

For more information about Erasmus+ Program click here.