Invitation letter

Dear colleague,

About eight years ago, a group of 31 leading academical representatives
from 16 different European countries met in Rauischholzhausen to achieve
a consensus about the common principals in higher education in audiology
across Europe. This was the birthplace of the “general audiologist” and
the “audiological specialist” according to the definition further
adapted by EFAS (European Federation of audiological societies),
constituting a multi-disciplinary approach to audiology. Several higher
education programs in different universities across Europe have been
implemented meanwhile that have more or less adopted this aim of a
comparable, multidisciplinary university education in audiology across
European countries. Now it is time to reconsider this area, to review
the different pathways of audiology training in Europe and to renew our
common interest to create a unified, European way of higher education in
audiology!

For this reason, the German audiological society (DGA) together with a
national centre of excellence for hearing technology and audiology
(HörTech) and the University of Oldenburg invites to a
“Rauischholzhausen follow-up-meeting” (see website:
http://medi.uni-oldenburg.de/euea) which will take place von January
17th to 18th in Bad Zwischenahn (http://www.bad-zwischenahn.de/englisch/), an
idyllic place close to Oldenburg . The idea is to have a meeting with
representation from major European higher education sites in audiology
as well as from a significant number of different European countries
(approx. 40 – 50 participants, 1 – 3 from each country) in a secluded
place that allows for intensive discussions (both in the plenary group
and in smaller groups) as well as productive, consensus-oriented common
working phases. Further information can be found at the website.

Invitation to participants is based on nomination by the national
contact person of EFAS and is issued by the conference organizers (J.
Verschuure, J. Kiessling, B. Kollmeier). Preferably, the nominated
person should be involved in or leading a university program (or
equivalent) in audiology (or one of the related disciplines with a
specialisation in audiology). In case that there are several programs in
audiology in a European country that qualify and that should be
represented by an additional person in the conference, a maximum total
number of up to three representatives from each country are welcome to
participate. However, since the capacity of the meeting facilities is
limited and since we only have a limited financial frame for supporting
this conference, such an invitation can only be issued upon confirmation
by the organisers and based on the availability of spaces.

Each invited conference delegate is asked to provide overview materials
(pdf, ppt, or word-files) about her/his university program and the
situation of audiology in her/his country to be added to the conference
website prior to the conference (Deadline: Dec. 15th). The delegate is
also asked to briefly report about these topics at the conference
(maximum 2 slides per participant)

Thanks to support from our international graduate school for
Neurosensory Science and Systems (http://medi.uni-oldenburg.de/intergk)
and the German audiological society (see: http://www.dga.ev.com) the conference
participation (incl. lodging and meals) is free for the invited
delegates. The costs for an additional accompanying person who shares a
room with the invited guest is 80 Euro/night (to be directly paid to
the conference site administration). Invited delegates should register
by filling out the registration form that can be downloaded from the
website and fax or mail it to susanne.garre_AT_uni-oldenburg.de. Further
financial support for travelling to/from Bad Zwischenahn might become
available due to some additional funds from the hearing aid or cochlea
implant manufacturer industry.

I am looking forward to welcome you in Bad Zwischenahn in January and
hope that we all can contribute to a positive development of audiology
in European universities!

With many thanks and best wishes
Birger Kollmeier
(Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dr. med. Birger Kollmeier ,
Secretary-General of the German Audiological Society,
Spokesman of HörTech)