Advanced training and international educational exchange: learning, overcoming and experiences

ABSTRACT Objectives: to report my experiences as a researcher during the course of advanced post-doctoral training abroad. Methods: theoretical and methodological option for Max van Manen’s phenomenology of practice. The activities were developed in the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing, in Portugal, Université Catholique de Louvain, in Belgium, and in Escuela de Enfermería y Fisioterapia de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, in Spain. Results: participating in a multicenter international research project enabled the acquisition of new scientific knowledge, personal and cultural gains. From a broader perspective, the international graduate and undergraduate nursing networks were strengthened through the mobility of researchers, and overcoming of the “status quo” by the formation of a critical mass environment indispensable for scientific advancement. Final Considerations: sharing the experience that you appropriate is about the power of grasping possibilities of a practical experience, in the context of the world, and going through it, motivated by the desire to make internationalization feasible.

Carbon storage estimation in a secondary tropical forest at CIEE Sustainability Center, Monteverde, Costa Rica

Secondary growth tropical rainforests have the potential to sequester large amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide and as such are an important carbon sink. To evaluate a local forest, a Carbon Neutrality Program was initiated at the Council on International Educational Exchange, San Luis Campus, Monteverde, Costa Rica. The study was conducted on 50 hectares of forest classified as Premontane Wet Forest. The forest, part of the Arenal-Monteverde Protected Zone, is estimated to be aproximately 50 years old and is in the upper regions of the San Luis valley at 1100 m elevation. Assessment of the carbon stock in trees was carried out in two permanent, 1 hectare plots, 100 m by 100 m, Camino Real and Zapote. The plots were divided into 25 subplots, 20 m by 20 m totaling 400 m2 per subplot. Ten subplots in each area were studied which represented 1.6% the total surface area of the forest. All of the trees were measured within the subplots that had a diameter at breast height ≥ 10 cm and the height of 10% of the trees measured. The estimated total CO2 sequestered by the campus forest was 18,210 ton (in 2019).

A Narrative Thematic Study of the Impact of International Placement Experience on Graduate Occupational Therapy Practice

Aim and Background: Globally, there is movement towards the internationalisation of allied health care. Many universities across the globe are offering international student placements as part of the movement to create therapists equipped to participate in a dynamic, borderless environment. This narrative study sought to contribute to the developing body of knowledge exploring these longer-term impacts. Design and Methods: Seven occupational therapy graduates who completed an international placement as part of their studies were recruited. Narrative data were gathered via in-depth semi-structured interviews, and thematically analysed by coding and grouping similar concepts to develop themes. Results: The overarching themes were the influence of international placement on participants’ paths and practice as therapists. Sub-themes included developing relationships, representing occupational therapy, working with interpreters, cultural sensitivity and empathy, reflective practice, resourcefulness and autonomy. Conclusion: The study identifies ongoing impact of international student placement on occupational therapy practice. Participants gained a rangeof experiences during their time overseas that has influenced their practice as therapists. Future studies would provide further knowledge to inform universities and students of the benefits of undertaking international student placements. Keywords: international educational exchange, professional practice, professional competence

Global Market of Highly Qualified Specialist under Pandemic Conditions

The article examines the state of the global market of highly qualified specialists under the pandemic conditions (demand, supply, and the main areas of activity). The author points at an increased importance of such an economic resource as knowledge. In most countries there is a need for qualified, healthy, and entrepreneurial specialists. The labor force began to be evaluated not by quantity, but by quality. The author gives data on “global talent index” how to prepare and keep professionals in the largest countries of the world. This paper pays special attention to entrepreneurial talent that is being encouraged, developed, and has an impact on relative competitiveness of various economies. The author indicates intensive movements of professionals between countries because of intra-firm transitions, common programs because of professional exchange, international movements of scientific personnel. Due to digitalization scientific connections are expanding between countries and effectiveness of cooperation in the online format is increasing. The role of a student mobility is increasing in an international educational exchange as one of the forms of an international migration of highly qualified specialists. The author defines the main travel directions of scientific personnel such as the USA, western European countries, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, and others. It is established that during the pandemic restrictive measures have dramatically reduced the inflow of highly qualified specialists to all countries of the world, including Russia. There is an increase in unemployment in Canada, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the USA and in other countries. During this period, an international outsourcing becomes particularly important allowing to penetrate to the professional labor market at closed borders. As a result, start-ups in the form of online exhibitions have appeared. During the pandemic scientists, information technology specialists, engineers, teachers, and doctors have become popular. The author highlights the problems at the labor market occurred in pandemic terms and indicates an increased demand for all kinds of digital projects with the participation of Russian professionals.

Introduction

Since 1946 the Fulbright Program has been a significant force in shaping a global scholarly community. A US government venture with an unprecedented reach across the world, it has been held responsible for ‘the largest migration of students and scholars in modern history’.1 Although the idea of international educational exchange did not originate with Senator Fulbright, the program has played a distinctive role in the history of international exchange to become ‘the world’s pre-eminent exchange program for scholars and students’....

The Biopolitics of International Exchange: International Educational Exchange Programs – Facilitator or Victim in the Battle for Biopolitical Normativity?

This article addresses how international educational exchange programs are increasingly used as political, and particularly bio-political, tools to promote ideologies of biological normativity. Such programs have historically been promoted by national and international institutions as means to increase participants (and therefore the sending institution’s) knowledge of the world and transfer favorable values through individuals. us and eu exchange programs with Russia in particular have been focused on achieving a ‘mutual understanding’ or promoting ‘common’ or ‘shared values’ across countries; however, a tendency of educational institutions to select like-minded individuals and countries for participation has arguably complicated rather than mended global divides. The difference in values associated with biological practices in Russia, the us, and the eu related to traditional gender roles, marriage, nuclear families, birth control, etc. have become more apparent with the spread of information and globalization. The main argument of this work supports that attention to the promotion or cancelation of certain exchange programs can be used to better understand larger patterns in international relations and the modern system of global governance. An investigation into the founding ideologies behind programs such as flex and Fulbright (by the us) and Erasmus + (by the European Commission) and their politicization exemplifies how educational programs can become ‘battlefields’ for ideologies of biological normativity. The example of the cancelation of the flex program by the Russian Federation is used to understand key relationships between biopolitics and geopolitics, modern and post-modern, and value transfer and human capital.