Issues and challenges in international doctoral education in nursing

Abstract

Education is a driving force in improving the health and welfare of communities globally. Doctoral education of nurses has been identified as a critical factor for provision of leadership in practice, scholarship, research, policy and education. Since the genesis of doctoral education in nursing in the USA in the 1930s, this movement has burgeoned to over 273 doctoral programs in over 30 countries globally. The present article seeks to identify the issues and challenges in nursing doctoral education globally, and those encountered by doctoral program graduates in meeting the challenges of contemporary health care systems. Information was derived from a comprehensive literature review. Electronic databases and the Internet, using the Google search engine, were searched using the key words "doctoral education"; "nursing"; "International Network for Doctoral Education in Nursing"; "global health"; "international research collaboration". Doctoral education has been a critical force in developing nurse leaders in education, management, policy and research domains. An absence of consensus in terminology and of accurate minimum data sets precludes comparison and debate across programs. The complexity and dynamism of contemporary globalized communities render significant challenges in the conduct of doctoral programs. Addressing funding issues and faculty shortages are key issues for doctoral programs, especially those in developing countries, to achieve an identity uniquely their own. These challenges can also afford considerable opportunities for discussion, debate and the formulation of innovative and collaborative solutions to advance nursing knowledge and scholarship. In spite of discrete differences between countries and regions, the similarities in the issues facing the development of doctoral programs internationally are more striking than the differences. The harnessing of a global collective to address these issues will likely serve to not only forge the future viability of doctoral education of nurses but to improve the health and well-being of communities. This paper proposes international collaborative strategies to address a number of the challenges identified.

Quality of nursing doctoral education in seven countries: survey of faculty and students/graduates

“…Faculty shortages and lack of resources have been associated with a lower quality of nursing doctoral education (Ketefian et al 2005, Kim et al 2010. Faculty refers to academic personnel/staff.…”

The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study

“…There is a global shortage of doctorally qualified nurse educators and of doctoral nursing programmes however, which means that many international nurses have to go overseas to obtain their doctorates [2]. The USA, Canada, the UK and Australia currently comprise the major destination countries [3,4]. …”

Gaining a global perspective on public health through an international student nurse collaboration

“…[24] More traditional modes of student international collaboration and study abroad programs tend to involve only a few students, [8,11] often because of travel, finance and time constraints. Using technology to provide an opportunity for students to collaborate as part of their undergraduate nursing courses has the advantages of being affordable, accessible to a larger number of students, and it can be incorporated into curricula, so that it becomes a part of the learning expectations for students.…”

“…[5] Literature also indicates examples of international collaboration within nursing education. [6][7][8][9][10][11] Nursing has followed this trend of internationalizing education and this has meant extension from the more traditional role of attracting international students and study abroad programs, to supporting faculty and providing higher education in areas where it may not otherwise be available, [8,11] and to extend learning opportunities. [10] Extension of learning provides examples of international collaboration often linked to specific content, such as cultural awareness, [6] ethics, [10] evidence based practice [7] or to provide a global perspective.…”