Education is growing to a European level with the development of student exchanges. The EFPT Exchange Programme is the first psychiatric exchange programme to be developed in Europe. It was launched in 2011 by the EFPT Exchange Programme Working Group.

To provide European psychiatric trainees with the possibility of intercultural professional experience with a simplified exchange procedure.

To promote acquaintance of different health systems and psychiatric practices as well as cooperation among trainees, with a focus on individual experience.

The programme is run by trainees, for trainees, and provides observatory internships of 2-6 weeks in psychiatric units accredited for education. We collected systematic online feedback on participant satisfaction, as well as data on countries of residence, countries of exchange and number of applicants per phase.

Since 2011, the program has extended to 11 countries and offers 50 placements in diverse clinical psychiatry units accredited for education. Six phases of exchange have been conducted, with a total of 85 exchanges. We observed an average of 34 applications per phase with 70% of applicants originating from: Turkey, UK, Portugal, Ireland, Romania, France, Croatia. 46% of applicants were accepted for exchange. The large number of trainees underlines the richness of professional exchange and the positive effect on personal development.

The succes of this programme among trainees should encourage the promotion of mobility in psychiatric training.