¹Medical Faculty, Leipzig University, Clinical Immunology, Leipzig, Germany
²DHGS German University of Health and Sport, Berlin, Germany
³Ain Shams University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Biochemistry Department, Cairo, Egypt
⁴Al-Azhar University, Faculty of Medicine (for Girls), Clinical Pathology Department, Cairo, Egypt
⁵Leipzig University, Medical Faculty, Clinical Immunology, Leipzig, Germany
⁶Al-Azhar University, Faculty of Science (for Boys), Immunology Lab, Botany and Microbiology Department, Cairo, Egypt
⁷St. Etienne University Hospital, Clinical Immunology, St. Etienne, France
⁸University Lorraine, Neurotoxicology, Development and Bioactivity, Nancy, Metz, France
⁹National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Chemistry, Athens, Greece
¹⁰Al-Azhar University, Vice president of Al-Azhar University for Postgraduate and Research, Cairo, Egypt
¹¹Ain Shams University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Cairo, Egypt

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Background: “Immune Modulation Certificate for postgraduate students acquired by blended learning” is an approved proposal in the “capacity building (higher education)” Erasmus plus program. The aim was to successfully implement a postgraduate study course in cooperation between Egypt, France, Germany and Greece.

Methods: 44 participants from five Egyptian universities (Al-Azhar, Cairo, Ain-Shams, Damanhour and Aswan) attended the first semester. The participants were from Medicine (9), Pharmacy (11) or Natural Sciences (24) and 18 were male. The first semester was conducted from 1 September 2023 to 4 January 2024 and consisted of five modules: Basic Immunology, Biotechnology, Comparative immunology, Molecular Biology and Public health. Teaching included e.g. lectures in presence, practical lab parts, PBL cases, worksheets and group discussions. Furthermore, online lectures, virtual labs, videos, learning materials available via the LMS were provided. Assessment consisted of MCQs, research proposal writing, presentations and OSPEs, conducted as midterm and final exams.

Results: Does the “e-toolkit” (learning management system) support the learning process? Participants rated Basic Immunology with 4.16±1.08 (mean±SD on a 5-point Likert scale, 1=do not agree at all, 5=fully agree). Biotechnology was evaluated 4.39±0.86, Comparative immunology 4.10±0.99, molecular biology 4.38±0.93 and public health with 3.67±1.37. Was the available time appropriate for conducting experiments? They rated from 3.39±1.24 in basic immunology to 4.00±1.04 in biotechnology. Was the amount of teaching hours suitable to the course content? Evaluation showed differences from 3.50±1.15 in public health to 4.25±0.91 in biotechnology.

Discussion: Participants were very satisfied with their first semester overall, specifically with the expertise of the teachers. Practical lab time will be optimized according to student’s needs. Details in some courses will be reduced and overlaps will be excluded. The e-toolkit rating depended e.g. on the content used in the module.

Practical learning is best of the best, so we are going to increase it.