"This e-learning is inspiring and challenging. It has changed the way I approach topics in other courses and the research project I am currently doing. Societal and ethical issues that are associated with medical technology often seem too complex to comprehend. This course provides useful tools, frameworks and strategies to deal with these, acknowledging their complexity and importance."
Caroline
MSc student neuroscience & science in society
“The VALIDATE course offers a view that is not reflected upon in other courses on technology assessment and is therefore unique. The core of HTA was known to me, but this course provides additional knowledge. It has a focus on what is relevant for society, which opinions are there and who finds what important. This will really make you look at what is relevant. The course also provides much more appropriate solutions. With all this together you get a very good overview of a health technology and you have the feeling that you are in the center of it. A versatile course that I would definitely recommend!”
Marloes
MSc student biomedical sciences
“Challenging and highly relevant course that highlights the complexity of HTA. It teaches you about the integration of fact and values in policy making and provides the opportunity to practise with this. Also, very nice that you can present the findings of the final assignment during a presentation in order to receive some personal feedback.”
Kim
MSc student biomedical sciences
"I regard the VALIDATE course as a very valuable and challenging one. I was aware of the classic health technology assessment approaches, however, I did not expect that value-related aspects like ethical and social aspects would be of such a great importance in health technology assessments. This course made me think on a whole new level, by offering examples that show you how important it is to take values into account from the start of the inquiry. I would highly recommend this course to other students".
Eveline
MSc student biomedical sciences
"The VALIDATE course gave me more insight in the complexity of health problems. The challenges that can occur due to different definitions of health problems by different stakeholders were a real eye-opener to me! The grey area that can exist, due to different stakeholders involved, always seemed hard to tackle for me. However, VALIDATE provided me with tools to tackle these difficult issues. You learn to take all different aspects into account. The proactive design of the course encouraged me to improve my skills and knowledge even more!"
Faye
MSc student biomedical sciences