City of Bocholt sees cooperation with Münster University of Applied Sciences to strengthen rescue services as "extremely positive

The city of Bocholt views the cooperation between Münster University of Applied Sciences and the Bocholt Fire and Rescue Academy in the field of vocational health care, which will begin in the winter semester, as "extremely positive. This is confirmed by the Bocholt head of the fire department, Thomas Deckers. With the establishment of the new specialization, training in rescue services will be strengthened in a targeted manner.

"I am very pleased that the Bocholt Fire Department and the City of Bocholt were able to participate in the development of the course and that the course is now the first in NRW to be offered at a public university. For our Fire and Rescue Service Academy, where the first state emergency paramedic examination in NRW was also held in 2014, the cooperation is extremely positive from a professional perspective. The establishment of the course is also a very important step in ensuring that suitable teaching staff are permanently available at the rescue service academies."

During an online information event on Monday, around 50 listeners from all over NRW and from the Berlin and Frankfurt fire departments joined in. The course of study was explained to them, followed by a lively exchange.

Münster UAS explained details of the cooperation in a press release dated March 9, 2022:

"According to the Emergency Paramedic Act, anyone who wants to teach both theory and practice at a recognized rescue service school needs a university qualification. In the winter semester of 2022/23, the bachelor's degree program in professional pedagogy in health care at Münster University of Applied Sciences will start with a new specialization in emergency medical services. In developing the course, the Department of Health worked closely with the Bocholt Fire Department and is offering it in cooperation. The place of learning will be both Münster UAS and the Fire and Rescue Service Academy in Bocholt. This makes the course a first sub-project of the university's planned study location in Bocholt. There is no other state university in North Rhine-Westphalia offering such a study program in a comparable form, and only a few universities in Germany.

The Faculty of Health already offers the Bachelor of Vocational Pedagogy with the specializations Therapy and Nursing, the direction Rescue Services will now form the third pillar. Prof. Dr. Thomas Prescher from Münster University of Applied Sciences will be in charge of the course. The bachelor's degree is aimed at trained emergency paramedics and teachers at rescue service schools, for example. All students have common seminars in Münster such as adult education and related sciences such as psychology. The specialized scientific modules on rescue and emergency medicine take place at the Fire and Rescue Service Academy in Bocholt.

"Simulation-based learning and teaching are important components of the bachelor's degree. For example, students practice on training ambulances equipped with cameras and have to design and conduct learning scenarios in them," says project manager Markus Münch from Münster UAS. Much emphasis is also placed on two practical phases in which students test their teaching skills in companies. "For example, a teaching sequence in a rescue service school or a first aid course at adult education center can be prepared and implemented," says Münch.

With the course of study, the cooperation partners are reacting to the changed legal situation - Münch explains, "The amendment to the Emergency Paramedic Act came into force in 2014. Rescue service schools are allowed to offer training for emergency paramedics if the teaching staff and management have completed appropriate university training for this. As a result, there is an increased need to qualify specialists for this task and to retrofit teachers who are already practicing."