UMY Hosts DISCERN-DSS Training, Social Dinner, and Project Meeting to Strengthen International Collaboration

Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) hosted the DISCERN-DSS training in September–October 2025, bringing together Indonesian and European partner institutions for a series of academic, collaborative, and project coordination activities. The event became an important moment to strengthen international collaboration in advancing digital soft skills education for health professions.

DISCERN-DSS, or Digitally enhanced SCenario basEd leaRNing for Digital Soft Skills, is an Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education project involving partners from Indonesia and Europe. The project aims to improve digital health education by supporting the development of Digital Scenario-Based Learning (D-SBL) resources, strengthening educators’ capacity, and promoting co-creative learning innovation.

The training at UMY focused on introducing participants to the principles and practices of D-SBL. Through interactive sessions, participants explored how digital scenarios can be designed to support active, reflective, and problem-based learning. The training also highlighted the importance of integrating digital soft skills into health education, including communication, collaboration, ethical reasoning, adaptability, professionalism, and critical decision-making.

Participants from UGM, UNS, and UMY joined the activity alongside European partners from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Karolinska Institutet, and the European Union of Medical Specialists. The sessions provided opportunities for knowledge exchange between institutions, combining international expertise in digital learning and medical education with local understanding of Indonesian curriculum needs.

In addition to formal training, the activity included co-creation sessions where participants began discussing ideas for future D-SBL resources. These sessions encouraged educators, technologists, and content experts to work together in designing learning scenarios that are relevant, practical, and aligned with the needs of health professions education in Indonesia.

The social dinner became an important part of the event, offering an informal space for participants to build relationships beyond the training room. Through this setting, partners were able to exchange experiences, strengthen trust, and foster a more collaborative atmosphere for the next stages of the project.

Project and finance meetings were also conducted during the activity to support coordination across partner institutions. These meetings helped align academic planning with project management, reporting requirements, budget coordination, and preparation for upcoming activities, including local training and scenario development.

By hosting the DISCERN-DSS training, social dinner, and project meeting, UMY played a key role in creating a productive collaborative space for the consortium. The activity reinforced the project’s commitment to building strong partnerships, developing high-quality D-SBL resources, and preparing Indonesian health education institutions for digital transformation.