We have identified eight strategic objectives for our Education Strategy. They are:
 

1. To provide world-class, innovative education and training in a wide range of health disciplines, building on existing strengths. This will include providing a flexible learning platform to support all teaching and learning and workforce development. Initially, this will be achieved by seamlessly integrating the current systems, but our aim is to develop a novel, dedicated platform. The Partners' expertise will be brought together in a virtual Institute of Innovation in Education and Training to ensure rapid dissemination of proven innovations.
    
2. To be a leader in global healthcare education. An Institute of Global Health Education and Training will be created to bring together the Partners' current activities and ensure sharing of excellent practice and that future initiatives are informed by the innovations of the Education Academy.
    
3. To further develop the culture of learning being informed by research and at the centre of clinical practice. This will be achieved by links particularly to the Basic Research Institute and including that of all courses will be reviewed for their research component.
    
4. To expand opportunities for training and development of the entire workforce. The Education Academy will provide teaching and training materials for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and life long learning for all staff and work with commissioners to develop appropriate programmes for future workforce needs.
    
5. To identify, nurture and train the future leaders of the healthcare professions. This will involve identifying the most appropriate external courses as well as internal development of courses tailored to the time constraints of a health workforce. Talent spotting will be a priority and theEducation Academy will be applying for external funding to develop such programmes.
    
6. To give opportunities to students who have the talent, but not necessarily the educational qualifications to pursue careers in all healthcare disciplines. This will be done by building on our current Access Programmes and expanding our UK flagship Extended Medical Degree Programme to other disciplines.
    
7. To impact upon our local communities by increasing patient access to health data and educational resources and information about research studies and clinical trials. This will require development of an Education Academy website, but also much greater engagement with the primary and community services. Essential to this goal is the development of a Health Innovation Education Cluster (HIEC).
    
8. To develop and evaluate new exemplars of healthcare education by researching new pedagogical practices. All new education and training methodologies will undergo robust research evaluation and all teachers and trainers a structured programme of development.