Topic
Pursuing opportunities for career growth can be deemed a primary goal of present-day students (Chu, Jayaraman, Kyamanywa, & Ntakiyiruta, 2014). Therefore, understanding the changes that studying abroad has to offer is an important step toward exploring existing opportunities for professional growth. Although studying abroad requires significant investments, it opens a plethora of resources for further career development to students in the public health sector.
Specifically, learning new skills and knowledge abroad implies sharing one’s professional experience with others and using other students’ experience as the extension of one’s own knowledge base. As a result, opportunities for a consistent acquisition of new knowledge and skills can be created, and a student becomes enabled to engage in lifelong learning (Linzer et al., 2013). Therefore, studying abroad should also be viewed as a possible means of extending one’s skills and abilities with regards to tending to the needs of patients (Hoffmann et al., 2014). Because of the options for engaging in knowledge sharing, multicultural communication, and active learning, studying abroad serves as a powerful tool for increasing students’ competencies in the public health domain, thus increasing their chances to build an impressive career and obtain a position with a high-paying company.
Goals
Defining how studying abroad helps further the careers of students in the public health sector is a key goal of this study. Particularly, the research seeks to identify the factors that affect career options for learners who study abroad. Thus a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon and subsequently the identification of available opportunities for professional progress can be conducted.
Literature Review
The existing studies on the subject matter point to the significance of sharing the experience as one of the foundational benefits of studying abroad. Cross-cultural communication and the promotion of interdisciplinary cooperation form the basis for massive professional growth. In this way, students are provided with chances to launch their career development successfully (Hanefeld, Smith, Horsfall, & Lunt, 2014).
In addition, the emphasis on consistent communication has spurred the development of cross-disciplinary cooperation, which is critical for improving patient outcomes (Kent-Wilkinson, Leurer, Luimes, Ferguson, & Murray, 2015). Encouraging experts who specialize in different areas to work together on a specific health concern is likely to create chances to explore the concern in-depth and from multiple perspectives (Yamin & Luna, 2016); as a result, opportunities are created for identifying numerous ways of managing these concerns (Fierke, Lepp, Bastianelli, Vogelsang, & Tornabene, 2016). In turn, the use of techniques based on studying abroad encourages the same idea of collaboration among students specializing in different areas and having different experiences. As a result, a massive increase in their abilities to meet the needs of target populations is expected (Rubagumya et al., 2016). The identified opportunities for professional growth, in turn, are likely to serve as major catalysts for career development for healthcare practitioners in the public sector domain (Crowne & Engle, 2016). Compared to their peers who do not have the necessary experience with addressing issues related to public health and do not possess knowledge of the crucial factors defining the well-being of target populations, learners who have studied abroad can be expected to have a significant competitive advantage (Lane et al., 2017; Price, McGillis, Angus, & Peter, 2013).
Background
The phenomenon of studying abroad as a means of acquiring extra knowledge and experience is not new (Palazuelos & Dhillon, 2016). A recent study shows that the strategy in question has been used quite successfully to improve students’ expertise in a range of areas, including public health (Lucky et al., 2015). The idea of using knowledge sharing as the means of improving learners’ skills and competencies has already gained significant impetus with the introduction of disruptive technologies such as social networks (MacPhee, Chang, & Spiri, 2013). The latter factor has contributed greatly to the promotion of sharing knowledge and experience (Hoeve, Jansen, & Roodbol, 2013).
Methods
In order to evaluate the effects that studying abroad has on students specializing in public health and particularly on their chances to find employment successfully, one will have to consider carrying out a quantitative study to evaluate career development among students attending courses and schools abroad. The career advancement of the target population before and after studying abroad will be compared so that the efficacy of the identified learning strategy can be assessed. A t-test should be used as a data analysis tool. To collect the necessary data, one will have to consider using a survey.
Conclusion
Because of the opportunities for knowledge sharing and active cross-cultural communication, one can expect studying abroad to have a significantly positive effect on the career development of students in the public health sector. By providing chances to develop lifelong learning skills, studying abroad would appear to introduce learners to a world of inviting career opportunities and encourage consistent professional growth. Therefore, an in-depth study of the implications of studying abroad should be conducted to determine whether the identified strategy can be used for developing necessary skills and acquiring relevant knowledge that will, later on, be used to improve patient outcomes in the public health sector.
References
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