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By 2022, students will be able to opt for a new, interdisciplinary degree programme: ‘Clinical sciences’. The COVID pandemic has further highlighted the urgent need for healthcare professionals with an interdisciplinary and innovative perspective on health issues. The new programme was established in response to this public demand for broadly trained human and veterinary healthcare professionals. The programme leverages the potential of UU's intensive collaborations in the field of Life Sciences, as well as its knowledge alliance with WUR and TU/e, and is unique of its kind.

Students will be trained in a diverse environment, ensuring that they are better prepared for both the complexity of modern medical issues and their own role as professionals. Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ's faculties of Veterinary Medicine, Medicine and Sciences (Pharmaceutical Sciences) are working together to establish this interdisciplinary programme. Programme director Wim Kremer stresses the importance of the underlying vision. 'The initiative will allow us to reshape our academic education in the health domain,' he explains.

The initiative will allow us to reshape our academic education in the health domain

We aim to attract a diverse group of students. As compared to other Bachelor's, the programme will offer them more opportunities to explore the complex health issues of today from a scientific and professional perspective. In the process, they will also gain in-depth knowledge of and insight into themselves and broader society. This will help them to develop an open mind while enabling them to make informed judgements and decisions in a world where opinions and truths are constantly being challenged.'

A cross-disciplinary perspective

The new Bachelor's programme will encourage students to look beyond the boundaries of their own field, helping them to appreciate the added value of other disciplines and perspectives on human and animal health care. They will learn to speak each other's language from the very start of the programme. They will also develop a helicopter view of current social and technological developments and the resulting impact on people and animals in their respective environments. , a qualified veterinarian and chair of the Royal Dutch Society of Veterinary Medicine (KNMvD) previously worked at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and sees great added value in the new programme. 'Knowledge institutes like the RIVM urgently need people with a broad perspective on health issues as well as in-depth knowledge of specific subjects. We need broad biomedical knowledge in many different areas including healthy lifestyles, disease prevention and healthy living environments. Complex risk assessments also require a joint effort by multiple disciplines. There's a lot to be gained by examining problems from different angles and perspectives. For example, knowledge of behavioural change proved crucial in developing the scenarios on the impact of various COVID measures.’ 

Knowledge institutes like the RIVM urgently need people with a broad perspective on health issues

Comparing systems

Besides health and illness, the new Bachelor's degree programme will also emphasise knowledge of the body's basic systems. This extends to both humans and animals: For example, how does the human circulatory and respiratory system work and how do the same systems work in a cow? What's the difference between the human and animal immune response to asthma? Students learn to look at the similarities and differences between different diseases, but also between a human and an animal. As a result, they do not go into as much depth by species, but rather the emphasis is more on comparing animal species and diseases to better understand how the basic systems work of humans and animals.

A diverse, small-scale programme

The new Bachelor's programme is set to start on 1 September 2022 and will admit a total of 50 students; this small scale was a deliberate choice. Students, lecturers and staff will form a close-knit group. There will be ample opportunities for broad academic and personal development, with plenty of room for extracurricular activities.

Education will be provided by lecturers from various Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ faculties including medicine, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, social sciences and law as well as other universities such as Eindhoven ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ of Technology and Wageningen ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ & Research. Students will also have the opportunity to connect through social and academic activities such as debates, excursions, lectures or music and sports events.

I think graduates of the new Bachelor's programme will have a lot to offer society

A broad perspective on health

holds a Bachelor's in Pharmaceutical Sciences. She is currently taking a Master's in Medicine and is involved in developing  the new programme. She enthuses: 'I think graduates of the new Bachelor's programme will have a lot to offer society. With a broad perspective on health, they will be ideally equipped to help solve today's complex healthcare issues no matter what direction they ultimately take. I would have loved to do this Bachelor's myself.

Sophie Deleu adds: 'The programme offers so much added value; a broad knowledge of other fields is always useful, even if you decide to do a Master's in a clinical field after finishing your Bachelor's in Clinicale sciences. That's also very much in the spirit of One Health.' 

Renske van Gestel (chair of the curriculum committee) agrees. 'The process of developing this Bachelor's has already generated a lot of valuable collaborations between our three faculties. I'm sure we'll be welcoming a lot of inspiring students to the programme soon, which I'm really looking forward to. 

This is an article from Vetscience issue 12 (in Dutch).