The lived experience of undergraduate health discipline students who participate in a short-term study abroad program

Short-term study abroad are programs that provide a period of mobility (less than 8 weeks duration), aimed at augmenting a student's personal learning and understanding of another culture and country. Over the past decade, there has been an exponential growth in higher education students in Australia, engaging in these short-term learning activities.  The growing popularity of short-term rather than long-term study abroad experience appears to be a reflection of financial and resource constraints faced by students and their families. This growth is also attributed to the Australian Government and Higher Education sector's response to globalisation and developing global citizens, resulting in the investment of considerable time and financial assistance to students seeking to undertake such an experience. Undoubtedly study abroad has value, however, there is limited literature that reports on the actual personal experiences of students from a health discipline undertaking a short study abroad experience. It is important to examine students' personal outcomes, especially in relation to the barriers and facilitators that can impact on a positive personal and learning experience. This proposed research intends to explore students' experiences of participating in a short-term study abroad program, using a descriptive phenomenological approach to inquiry.