on-course® portal: a tool for in-service training and career development for biomedical scientists

Successfully navigating through the jungle of biomedical postgraduate courses in Europe has recently been made possible by the release of an Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) funded project called on-course (R) (http://www.on-course.eu). on-course (R) lists all master, continued professional development (CPD) and PhD courses in Europe and hosts advanced search options designed by the pharmaceutical industry, academia and regulatory bodies allowing the course seeker to find courses that are most relevant for them. In addition, an IMI cross education and training topic task force has developed a set of quality standards that have been applied to CPD courses. The comprehensive nature of on-course (R) offers a new level of transparency to biomedical course provision in Europe that will help steer future education and training.