Models of International Exchange for Doctoral Students and Faculty
Models of international exchange for doctoral students and faculty include programs that allow for research collaboration, joint degrees, and short-term and long-term mobility. International exchange models for doctoral students and faculty include research collaboration, joint degrees, and short-term and long-term mobility.
Self Funded Model Four Country Project
In 2000 the deans of nursing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, and the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, UK, agreed to set up faculty and doctoral student collaboration. Each agreed to involve another partner with whom they were already collaborating and this resulted in the University of Lund in Sweden and the University of Toronto in Canada joining a collaboration called the Four Country Project.
Every year, one of the partners hosts a five-day research workshop on a topic of relevance to a cadre of faculty and doctoral students in all four institutions. The other three partners send students and faculty to participate in the workshop. For example, in the year 2001, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hosted a workshop on maternal and child health. The universities of Ulster, Lund and Toronto sent doctoral students (three to four each) and faculty (two to three each).
The workshop involves presentations from students on their doctoral studies and on methodological issues, talks by faculty participants and guest speakers who are experts on the topic. An important aspect of the workshop is the social events where students and faculty get to know each other and cement further research alliances. The funding model of the Four Country Project is simple.
The host institution arranges the event and guest speakers and supplies the accommodation and social calendar for the incoming students and faculty. The visiting institutions meet the travel and food expenses. This means that every four years an institution has to organize the event and arrange accommodation.
In 2002 the event was held at the University of Ulster and the topic was research on care of older people. In 2003, the University of Lund hosted the event and the theme was research on living with chronic illness. The University of Toronto will host the 2004 event.
University of Michigan Project
It is not a blinding insight to posit that collaboration and exchanges occur and build on existing relationships. Individuals would like to collaborate with those whom they know, have developed a professional or personal relationship with, and have formed the basis for trust.
For example, if one were to inquire about how various institutional partnerships and relationships came to be, one would find that someone from institution A went to graduate school with someone in institution B; or that someone in institution A was the mentor for someone in institution B and supervised the person’s dissertation. These are naturally excellent foundations on which to begin building.
In a similar vein, anecdotal evidence shows that upon completion of a collaborative venture, there is much follow-on activity and various types of institutional relationships develop between the partners. In the absence of these, opportunities can be created to lay the foundation for scholars to meet and begin the process of sharing and getting to know one another’s work. Towards this end, the University of Michigan initiated a program in 2003. The steps taken were as follows:
1 An invitation was sent to the faculty of the University of Michigan to indicate their interest in collaboratively working with international colleagues for an intensive week over the summer period. This solicitation specified that there needed to be a faculty research team in place that was developing programmatic research, with the team having at least one senior researcher along with other faculty and doctoral students or postdoctoral fellows on the team. The team was asked to send the research topic of interest to it.
2 The solicitation yielded six volunteer research teams that met the specifications.
3 A letter of invitation, in which the six research topics were listed, was sent to a number of international institutions. The letter invited these schools to nominate one faculty member (senior or junior) whose research was in one of the six identified areas. The letter identified the goal of the week-long workshop as aiming to initiate international research collaboration among the respective faculties.
In sending a faculty member, the institution made a commitment to facilitate the person’s collaborative research upon her or his return home, in terms of time provided for the collaboration or in facilitating the search for funding sources from the home country and the region.
4 A selection process was undertaken, with the senior faculty member from each of the six teams participating. The nominations and the supporting materials were so superb and so carefully presented that the team focused mainly on identifying those that presented the best fit with the research being conducted at Michigan.
5 This process yielded 11 scholars who visited the University of Michigan for seven days. Their institutions paid for travel, and the University of Michigan paid for room and board.
Most of the week-long workshop was spent in intensive work among the small groups with one of the six research teams. Each team had one to four individuals assigned. The teams assumed responsibility for how the time would be spent, but in all cases, there was sharing of one another’s research programs and work to date, and discussion on the theoretical foundations and specific methodological approaches used.
There were some site visits to agencies to see specific patient populations, appointments with other experts in the area or within the institution, or demonstration of how specific interventions were applied. At the end of each day all visiting scholars agreed together for a final session and a special presentation/discussion was planned.
These included an overview of proposal preparation, how to conceptualize a research problem and develop a theoretical rationale, and an overview of international funding sources. Evenings were spent as social time with dinners hosted by various faculty and administrators of the host institution.
Some teams actually used the week to prepare a collaborative research proposal, while others used the time to re-think their direction and committed themselves to start proposal preparation upon returning home. Many of the teams are in continuing contact as to their next steps.
Visiting faculty were overwhelmingly positive, pointing to the workshop as a time to get away from daily commitments and to think only about nursing research; some stated that their horizons were broadened and that they developed new insights and new ways of seeing the problem of interest; many expressed the view that without this opportunity they would not have been able to begin the process of international collaboration.
The group as a whole noted with great satisfaction that it was a unique opportunity for them to get to know and share views with the other participants from the seven different countries, and there was some discussion among them regarding future individual collaborations. They expressed appreciation to the faculty of the host school for their dedication to the entire process.
The faculty of the University of Michigan were similarly pleased and expressed the hope that there will be concrete outcomes as follow-up. They made point to the fact that it was hard work, yet highly worthwhile. A number of teams had doctoral students participating in the discussions. Some of these students had previously not had the opportunity to work with international scholars and pointed to the personal and professional enrichment this brought to their scholarly work.
At the time of writing one proposal had been submitted by a team; In the case of another team, discussions were under way for a visiting scholar to send a doctoral student to work and study with the team she herself worked with to facilitate the student’s dissertation proposal development. This is a most promising beginning a few months after the end of the workshop.
Time will tell what other follow-on collaborative projects will evolve. We do know from the evaluations that a good foundation has been provided on which to build. Should circumstances allow, a repeat will be considered in several years, inviting several of the scholars from the first workshop and adding new individuals to the group.
Summary and Conclusion
As stated at the outset of this topic it is incumbent upon the nursing profession to share expertise and experiences internationally. Morally, best practice should be available to all the citizens of this planet and collaborations assist in disseminating best practices. With technology making the world a smaller place, collaboration is easier than it has been hitherto. There are many opportunities for nurses to bridge the knowledge and geographical gaps that continue to exist.
This topic has outlined a small number of these collaborations reflecting different models including government-funded models (EU–US Project; National Cancer Institute consortia), membership models (EANS; INDEN), independent models (Harkness, Fulbright, Nightingale Fellowship) and self -funding models (Four Country Project, University of Michigan Project).
Each of these models supports the exchange of students and faculty and enhances the knowledge base of the discipline. The above models were presented as examples only, and were not meant to be an exhaustive list of all the opportunities that are available. In addition to the existing programs for faculty and student exchange opportunities that the interested person can investigate, there is room for creativity, whereby individuals and institutions can create models and programs best suited for the goals at hand.
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