Empowering students through One Health parasitology: An intensive hands-on summer course on emerging parasites at the University of Alcalá, Spain

Emerging parasitic diseases remain a major global health concern, yet parasitology is often underrepresented in higher education. To address this gap, the University of Alcalá (UAH) launched in 2025 an eight-day intensive summer course, “Advanced Diagnosis of Emerging Parasites in Humans and Animals,” designed to provide interdisciplinary training in diagnostic techniques, outbreak response, and One Health strategies. We report a single-cohort educational innovation attended by seven students. The course integrated interactive lectures with hands-on laboratory workshops using real clinical and veterinary specimens and digital resources (e-Parasitology^©). Training covered parasite life cycles and pathogenesis; classical parasitological methods (sedimentation and flotation); molecular diagnostics (PCR); immunodiagnostics (including monoclonal antibody development); and applied activities in environmental decontamination and antiparasitic formulation. Participant outcomes were evaluated using routinely collected university quality-assurance feedback, provided to instructors exclusively in fully anonymised, aggregated form (no identifiable data accessed). Descriptive analysis of the institutional survey (3/7 respondents) showed high satisfaction across key domains (mean scores on a 1–5 scale: content planning 4.67; teaching quality 4.67; perceived learning 4.33; workload 4.33; expectations met 5.00), and open-ended comments highlighted the value of the practical component. To strengthen the evidence base in the next edition, we will implement a structured evaluation framework including reach indicators (uptake/completion), aligned pre/post-knowledge checks, rubric-based assessment of practical competencies, and an anonymous post-course survey capturing satisfaction and self-efficacy, with paired pre/post-analyses and cohort-level comparisons where feasible. Overall, this course offers a feasible and scalable model of practice-based, interdisciplinary parasitology training aligned with One Health preparedness and competency development.