ESC Curricula

The ESC and its Constituent Bodies the Associations, Working Groups and Councils represent the field of cardiovascular medicine and all its health care professionals.

For some years now, the ESC has been striving to ensure coherence and cohesion within cardiovascular medicine, as well as to keep ahead of the game with new developments in this very dynamic field of medicine. In this effort, the development of syllabi and curricula has been a means to document and structure the field of cardiology. 

At the ESC, curricula are developed in a specific manner.  The aim is to provide a framework for training and lifelong learning in cardiology and its subspecialties.  Beyond the production of syllabi that provide the list of topic areas included in a speciality, curricula describe characteristics and requirements for entering training in cardiology and/or subspecialty training, as well as requirements for training centres, trainers and importantly a clear description of the assessment modalities throughout the training period and beyond.

Curricula structures are key in the development of the educational offer, along with needs assessment and gap analysis, to ensure that educational programmes are needs-driven and relevant to its members. Below are listed the current syllabi and curricula developed at ESC, together with a link to the document itself.

The ESC Core Curriculum 2013

The 2013 Core Curriculum defines the clinical, patient-oriented, training of the general cardiologist. The overall structure of the previous version has been retained, but the table format has been abandoned to limit the number of printed pages and to make the document more easily searchable online.

The general aspects of training and all individual chapters have been updated. The document focuses on knowledge of mechanisms of disease, clinical and communication skills, empathy for the patient and their relatives, and teamwork.

The full version of the Core Curriculum for the General Cardiologist is available to download below.

Download the ESC Core Curriculum