School of Health and Welfare has most nursing students studying abroad

The nursing programme at the School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University (JU) has the most number of students that complete part of their studies abroad and thus comes out top in this respect compared to other nursing programmes in Sweden, according to statistics from the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR). Few students in professional programmes choose to study abroad, but the School of Health and Welfare is actively working on the issue, which has produced results.

According to UHR's survey, there are common factors that promote studying abroad, something the nursing programme is working on, both in the long term and on a day-to-day basis.

"It feels great that all the work we do on the programme is producing results. We find that the students who travel abroad grow immensely in their profession and carry a golden edge into their professional life as well as during their last semesters on the programme," says Tillan Strand, Programme Manager for the Nursing Programme.

"Biggest reason to study at JU"

Nursing student Elin Elfving studies at the School of Health and Welfare and has chosen to do an exchange semester in Malta, where she is currently located. She loves travelling and for her it was a matter of course to go away to gain experience. As a nursing student, one of the things she gets to do is an internship in a hospital.

"The opportunity for exchange was actually one of the biggest reasons why I chose to study at Jönköping University as I had heard so many good things about their exchange programme," says Elin.

Ensuring that knowledge requirements are met

One of the factors that UHR considers important in promoting studying abroad is having a deeper cooperation with partners, which is something the School of Health and Welfare is working on and as a result currently has 60 partner universities around the world. Furthermore, and also in line with UHR recommendations,the nursing programme manager ensures that students achieve the knowledge requirements for the nursing degree in Sweden and that they can credit their exchange studies on the condition that they are approved. The nursing programme at JU has also introduced a semester entirely in English as part of internationalisation efforts and informs both applicants and current students about the opportunities for exchange studies.

"We want to create opportunities for our students to get international input, both through exchanges but also at home. This is one of our visions at JU, but equally, on a national and international front, nursing is becoming an increasingly important profession for ensuring global health, which is why knowledge of health in a global perspective is important for our students,” says Tillan.