International Programming

Office of International Affairs

International Engagement of School of Nursing Faculty

Student International Engagement

Policies and Forms

World Health Organization Collaborating Center

International Scholars' Program

International Partnerships

International Resources

Student International Engagement

Opportunities for Student Internships and Other Overseas Experiences

Graduate Students

The Office of International Affairs, School of Nursing, supports a limited number of individually designed internship experiences for graduate students either in research or other relevant professional endeavors to be conducted in countries outside the United States. The purpose is to expand the international competence of domestic and international students and to help expand networks. These internships may be with health care agencies, governmental agencies/departments or non-governmental organizations; they may be for credit or for professional enrichment. The program is intended to provide opportunities for the development of professional practice in settings other than the United States. The focus of the internship may be research, nursing practice, policy development or other areas relevant to the student’s career. For more information on internships, click here.

As well, some students required to do internships as part of their course requirements may wish to meet such requirements in international settings. Faculty permission needs to be obtained. The Office of International Affairs will work with faculty and students to find appropriate placements and experiences.

Opportunities may also be available for students to serve as research assistants on faculty projects. Information for these are obtained through individual faculty members.

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Undergraduate Students

Typically, undergraduate student experiences are for groups of students organized by the faculty or through the University of Michigan. In unusual instances permission may be sought for students to travel overseas with groups outside of the University of Michigan.

The University of Michigan’s program titled Global Intercultural Experience for Undergraduates [GIEU] is designed to provide undergraduate students experiences overseas or with various cultural/ethnic groups within the United States. Funded through the Office of the Provost, faculty prepare proposals, which, when approved, are available for students to sign up for, typically in early to mid-Fall semester. School of Nursing faculty have been very active in this program, which admits students from across campus. Students are urged to be alert to announcements for the various seminars available to them each year. For more GIEU information, click here.

Other opportunities will also be available to undergraduates to conduct practicum experiences as part of some clinical courses, to be announced in the near future.

In addition, several courses are available for students to enroll in through an inter-institutional arrangement with Michigan State University. The courses are taught in London [in collaboration with the Royal College of Nursing], and in Ghana [in collaboration with the University of Ghana]. For more information, go to the Office of International Programs [OIP] at: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/oip.

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Sample Student Experiences in Overseas Settings:

Maya Lindemann

Maya Lindemann traveled to India during the summer of 2008, where she spent four weeks participating in a maternal and child health program in Prune, India, which was run by the organization, Child and Family Health International (CFHI). Specifically, Maya worked with the Operation Eyesight Universal (OEU) program in urban slums, and the Catch Them Young (CTY) program in Prabhachi village. OEU selects and trains women from the slums to be field workers in-charge of surveying the community in order to educate women on nutrition, immunizations and sanitation. CTY utilizes “paramedical health workers” who are members of the community with 12th grade education that are given one year of basic medical training. These workers then go door-to-door, surveying households to ensure that vaccinations are up-to-date, vitamin distribution has occurred, pre/post-natal checkups are completed, and knowledge of sex education is adequate (CTY’s main educational focus).

Yun-Ping Lin

Yun-Ping Lin traveled to Bangkok, Thailand and to Seoul, Korea in the summer of 2008. In Thailand, she attended the 2008 International Conference on Health People for the Healthy World. In Korea, she attended the XVIII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work. At both events, Yun-Ping met international scholars and nurses, and she hopes that the information she gathered at both events will have an impact on her future dissertation research, especially in the areas of health promotion and risk reduction, and on her professional development in the field of occupational health nursing.

GIEU Hungary 2006

Professors OiSaeng Hong & Richard Redman

Focus Of The Course

This course was entitled “Health and Social Welfare in Hungary: An Examination of Sociopolitical Change, Culture, History, and Health.” It provided an opportunity for students and faculty to examine Hungarian history, culture, political and social systems and the health care delivery system which has undergone major social and economic changes over the past 15 years. Given the changes underway in Hungarian society, the analysis of social welfare and health care provided a unique view on the interplay among sociopolitical, cultural, and historical factors. Health care is a product of several social determinants and this course helped to illustrate that.

Fourteen students participated in the field course. The participants were primarily second and third year students from a number of different departments in LS&A. Two of the students were from professional schools (engineering and nursing). The majority of the students had an interest in health and health care and many planned to go on to graduate schools in some health-related field (medicine, public health, public policy).

The course served as an elective for all undergraduates. It provided students with the unique opportunity to view health and health care from an economic, social, and policy perspective. In the U.S., students are accustomed to living in a system that provides high quality health care to those who are employed or have good resources, while others who are economically deprived do not have access to care at all. Hungary, as is the case in most European Union members, provides for a socialized health care system.

As the U.S. struggles with how to make health care more affordable and accessible, this immersion experience in a socialized health care system provided a unique opportunity for comparison and reflection for the students. The course provided a foundation for students to build on throughout their education regardless of their major field of study and contributes to their roles as informed citizens.

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University of Michigan School of Nursing
Office of International Affairs
SNB, Room 3216
400 North Ingalls
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5482
Contact: Shaké Ketefian, EdD, RN, FAAN,
Professor and Director of OIA
Tel: 734-763-6669
Fax: 734-615-3798
Email: ketefian@umich.edu