Welcome to our Visiting Faculty Scholars from Jönköping University in Sweden! The UNC SON is excited to have you here as a part of our global exchange partnership! We look forward to collaborating with you in person from June 23–June 29, 2025!
Jönköping University and UNC School of Nursing will build on their long, sustained partnership promoting nursing students, faculty, and nurses to engage in global mobility and exchange. Formally launched in 2013, this productive collaboration founded on possibilities rather than barriers has thrived because of the meaningful connections created among nursing students and professionals.
Early collaborative efforts fostered curriculum exchange as each institution was redeveloping their curriculum. UNC faculty presented workshops on interprofessional education, patient safety and quality, and simulation learning environments and strategies. These interactions led to research collaborations including a Swedish national research project on the inclusion of the Quality and Safety Education in Nursing (QSEN) in clinical learning evaluation.
QSEN originated at UNC for national implementation and global spread. Led by former Dean Linda Cronenwett and Associate Dean Gwen Sherwood, this early collaboration contributed to the Swedish Nursing Society embedding QSEN into their national professional practice model. The partnership also allowed practicing nurses to learn across borders, as visitors were invited into various clinical care facilities for observation and discussions of shared clinical issues.
Several of these collaborations have been reported in conference presentations and professional publications. Following student and faculty mobility exchanges, the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program is the most recent brilliant way to engage undergraduates in international collaboration while strengthening their perspectives on global healthcare.
UNC offers a COIL learning opportunity to engage undergraduate students in further global learning and collaboration in this program. COIL has led to more than 500 students at both programs learning and benefiting from this innovative partnership.
The future Erasmus funding for 2026 and subsequent years positions both nursing programs to strengthen this highly productive and innovative partnership in building global citizens prepared to practice in increasingly complex healthcare environments.