Individually Designed International Visiting Scholar Programs
Budget shortages still remain a significant problem in developing countries like Thailand. The international visiting scholar program is a financially attractive alternative for scholars from developing countries or other countries where these opportunities are not available, who desire to send an individual to conduct a postdoctoral experience. Typically, the international visiting scholar program offers two channels for scholars to identify mentoring opportunities.
One is personal contact; the individual may directly contact the faculty who has the relevant expertise. The other is by a network approach, the most popular pathway. Scholars can apply through partnerships that their home institution may have with universities in countries such as the USA, Canada and Australia. According to Ketefian (1998), requests for short-term training for international scholars most frequently are requested through government or international agencies, such as the World Health Organization.
The host universities not only provide the academic environment, but also facilitate the entry process for the visiting scholars and their families to help them adjust to the new culture. The benefits of the international visiting scholar program are flexibility, cost savings, and gaining experience in another culture. International visiting scholar programs are less time consuming and more flexible than a postdoctoral fellowship.
Individuals can enroll in international visiting scholar programs throughout the year. These experiences are also offered for different periods of time depending on the contact between universities. In addition, these programs also offer a variety of nursing specialties. Therefore, international visiting scholars can choose the specialty that suits their area of interest.
The cost of the international visiting scholar programs is lower than the cost of the postdoctoral program. The international visiting scholars can register in courses to gain additional substantive and methodological expertise.
International visiting scholars gain research and teaching experience. They also may build up the international collaborative network that may include joint research projects and publishing results between universities. The international visiting scholar will bring back images, impressions, and the influences of foreign cultures both on and off the campus. A better understanding of foreign academic systems and cultures is definitely a benefit for the people of both countries.
There is no set system put in place for the international visiting scholar program due to its flexibility and individualized nature. The scholar may not be able to locate a mentor with the expertise required within the partner university. Therefore, international visiting scholars may have difficulty in finding universities that offer expertise in their area of specialty. Additionally, there are often multiple objectives to be pursued in a short period of time.
Thus, international visiting programs may not result in the same outcomes as in more structured postdoctoral programs. The perspective and expectations of the home institution direct and influence the experience for the visiting scholar. In turn, the visiting scholar has the potential to significantly influence the home institution upon return to that setting. International visiting scholars who return to their home countries will have had experiences and formed new visions that will benefit students, faculty members, curriculum development and collaborative research projects.
Their experiences will be transmitted through teaching, coaching, consulting and mentoring to students as well as faculty members. International visiting scholars can leverage their experience by assisting in developing the nursing curriculum including the undergraduate, Master’s, and PhD programs at their home institutions.
International visiting scholars can assist in establishing up a collaborative research network by continuing to work with their mentors. They can help develop proposals, seek funding and conduct research focusing on cultural differences. Another benefit is in gaining insight into advanced technology, methodology, and research activities. Finally, international visiting scholars will also increase their expertise in their own area of interest.
Although these are the expectations for individual international visiting scholar experiences, the culture of the scholar’s home institution or country may act as a barrier to achieving the proposed outcomes. For example, a hierarchical system that is strongly embedded in the Eastern world impacts on the infrastructure of academic institutions. Younger faculty are expected to be highly respectful toward senior faculty, regardless of level of education.
This situation may limit the progress of young scholars and the ability of the organization to develop younger faculty. This situation poses a challenge to administrators at all levels in the home institutions. There are also clear benefits for the host institution in having faculty conduct visiting international fellowships. Faculty and students in the host institution gain an appreciation of international nursing scholarship and have the opportunity to build international collegial relationships (Carty et al, 2002).
Given the state of technology offered by the Internet and the relative ease of travel, it is now more feasible to develop productive research collaborations. As maintaining and increasing the number of doctorally prepared faculty and established nursing researchers becomes a greater challenge, faculty in the host institution are in turn challenged to mentor their own students while also selectively mentoring international visiting scholars.
The result could be a tension between providing research mentorship for students in the host institutions and offering opportunities for a variety of experiences for international visiting scholars. Clearly, the nursing discipline needs to be thoughtful about how to maintain the developing international research collaborations.
Recommendations and Implications
Although the benefits of postdoctoral preparation are significant for the individual, future employers and the discipline, doctorly prepared nurses have not sought out postdoctoral training in significant numbers. The shortage of nursing faculty and nurse researchers comes at a critical point for the discipline. Just as the demands for more practitioners, for more faculty, for nursing science and for evidence-based practice have become critical, nursing finds itself struggling to meet these needs.
The average age of nurses completing doctoral degrees is significantly higher than for other disciplines (>40 years for nursing, 30 years for doctorates in biomedical and social and behavioral sciences (National Research Council, cited in Sullivan, 2001). Further, the challenges to postdoctoral preparation identified earlier will probably increase in magnitude as the demand for doctorly prepared faculty increases and the opportunities for these nurse scientists without benefit of postdoctoral experience to move to well-paid positions persist.
The nursing discipline cannot afford to ignore the challenges to postdoctoral preparation and must continue efforts to support these experiences for nurse scientists. One approach that is being implemented in a number of institutions is the encouragement of post baccalaureate entry into doctoral study for certain new Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduates. The goal is to create a generation of younger, doctorly prepared scientists who can dedicate time and include a postdoctoral experience in their career trajectory.
This matter is discussed elsewhere in this volume. Another tactic is to create mechanisms to supplement the postdoctoral stipends. Countries that do not have formal postdoctoral training opportunities might consider making greater use of the more individualized training available through the international visiting scholar program offered by some institutions.
The continued development of national and international collaborations that foster the exchange of postdoctoral scientists across institutions will contribute to the establishment of a normative expectation for postdoctoral study.
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