Lifelong Learning Certificate Guidelines

Why LLC?
Lifelong Learning is an important concept to adopt already at student phase and thus
evaluating what we have learnt outside the lecture halls is an important part of this.
Employers also value extracurricular learning activities as well as the ability to articulate how
they have helped you develop. The LLC reflection form is a tool for this and the certificate
something concrete where everything is summarised.

How to receive LLC? General Requirements

In order to receive the Lifelong Learning Certificate, a student must:
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Attend at least 2 EPSA Events

Annual Congress
Autumn Assembly
Summer University
Annual Reception
Training New Trainers

Attend at least 1 External Event, Certified by EPSA

o National Student Congresses and Educational events, Local Symposiums,
Professional Events, EPSA-Originated events, etc
Submit at least 5 reflection forms from the different events attended (EPSA and
External events)
Complete minimum 10 hours of educational program, within the events submitted.
The sessions that could be used to fill in a reflection form are:
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Trainings
Workshops
Lectures
General Assemblies
Educational experiences (e.g. group work, panel discussions)
Others in the same context

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Even if a student has already submitted 5 reflection forms, he/she can submit as many
as wanted, once the events attended will be listed in the Certificate, as long as a reflection
form is submitted. Please bear in mind that a reflection form should be sent maximum 1
month after the event.

How should a reflection form be filled in?

Reflection forms are a tool to evaluate personal development and summarize main
learning outcomes. Below you will find an example of how a reflection form should be
filled in:

Reflection Form for the EPSA Life Long Learning Certificate (LLC)
Attending an event is just the one part of the learning cycle! Reflection on that event is
another important part and this form gives you the opportunity to do just that. For each activity
that you feel you gained a lot from please answer the questions below and this will count to
the LLC.
Which activity/event did you attend?
State events name, date, location and organizer, e.g.: APEF Annual Congress, 17th-19th
November, Lisbon, Portugal, organised by the National Association of Portuguese Pharmacy
Students - APEF
What was the topic of this section?
In this area, you should state what the main topic of the event was, and also, the topic of
the session(s) you choose to reflect on.

e.g. The main topic of this congress was Drug Interaction. Within the educational
programme, there were a lot of trainings, and specifically the one I chose to reflect on was
Communication.
Why did you choose to go to this event/complete this learning?
Here you should mention what were your reasons to attend the event, and especially the
session you chose to explore.

e.g. I decided to go to this event because APEF is my National association and these
student congresses are always a great opportunity to learn and share new experiences with
other Pharmacy students. When I signed in to the Communication training, I had in mind that I
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had to develop my communication skills, especially those connected to Pharmacist-Patient

communication.
Which part of this activity/event was of greatest benefit to you and why?
Please explain what were the main things you learnt during this activity or skills you were
able to develop further.

e.g. In my opinion, the part that was more important for me was the role plays made during
the training. I had the chance to put in practice the things that I have learned, and to receive
feedback on that. After receiving feedback, we did another exercise which includes role plays
and I can tell that the improvements were obvious!
How can you use what you have learnt in your professional or student life?
Here you should write your thoughts about how to use what you have learnt in the future.

e.g. This skill will be very useful in my day-by-day activities, and I am sure it will be even
more important in my future as a pharmacist. As a student, I am always communicating, with
my friends, professors, while doing a presentation, and so on. As a future pharmacist, I will
communicate with the patient every day. So, I will use proper communication every day, and
so I think this is a really important and useful skill.
How do you plan to develop what you have learnt further yourself?

e.g. In the future, I think I will be able to develop this communication skill even more when
Ill be working at a Pharmacy. In the summer, during my internship, Ill be able to put in
practice what Ive learned. As I am passionate on this topic, I will search more on this, and Ill
try to find more information that I could use in my day-by-day practice.
Please Provide contact details below:
Name: Jorge Batista
Email: edu.affairs@epsa-online.org
Country/Association: Portugal / APEF

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 Receiving the Lifelong Learning Certificate:

Once you feel you would like to receive the official Lifelong Learning Certificate (and
after fulfilling all the minimum requirements), you must submit a request for the Certificate
to the Educational Affairs Coordinator, at least 3 weeks before the Annual Congress.
Lifelong Learning Certificates will be delivered in the Annual Congress, or sent by email if the student wont be able to attend AC.
Please note that the Annual Congress to which you request the certificate is not eligible
for that years LLC. This lays on the basis that a reflection form must be submitted after
the event and after reflecting on it.

For example, to obtain the LLC 2012/2013, a student must attend 2 EPSA events
since 35th EPSA Annual Congress, Istanbul, 2012; until Annual Reception, Brussels,
2013.

EPSA Events Definition

An EPSA event is defined by an activity (co-)organized by the EPSA Team where
Pharmacy students from the different EPSA member countries can reunite and share
experiences. This event should include an educational content (e.g. symposiums,
trainings, workshops or lectures).
There are 5 EPSA events per year:
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Annual Congress, Annual Reception, Autumn Assembly, Summer University, Training New

Trainers

These 5 events are automatically credited as EPSA events.

External Events Definition

National events are activities organized and developed by EPSA members, at national
level. These events must include an educational programme in order to be accredited to
the Lifelong Learning Certificate, like a symposium, trainings, workshops, or other
activities with educational content (e.g.: NAPSer Annual Congress, 5th APEF Scientific
Congress, Summer Camp SSFD).
Local events have the same requirements as National events, but are organised in a
more local sense, by a local association (e.g.: 3rd Health Scientific Symposium, AEFFUL).
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Professional events are activities with a scope for professional sector (e.g.: 25th DIA
Euromeeting, 18th EAHP Congress).
EPSA-Originated events are events which started with EPSA help in the past, but now
are organised independently (e.g. Twinnet, Training Norden, Training the Trainers - TtT).
EPSA-Partnership Events are activities organised by EPSA partners (e.g. myTraining by
GSK, sMaRt project, IMP Training, IPSF World Congress)

How to accredit a Local EPSA Event: (for LSs)

If an LS wants to see a local event accredited, he/she should send all the information
about the events structure, speakers, main topic, schedule, and other details which
found important, until maximum one week after the event, although this process should
be preferably done before the event. All these documents should be sent to
edu.affairs@epsa-online.org (Educational Affairs Coordinator contact).
After the confirmation by the Educational Affairs Coordinator for the accreditation of the
event, a reflection form will be sent to the LS, it will also be available on the EPSA
website. This way students can upload it and fill in, then submit it to the contact given.
In case you have any questions, please contact edu.affairs@epsa-online.org .

Created by,

Jorge Batista
EPSA Educational Affairs Coordinator
2012/2013

Reviewed by --------Date --------

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