Last Updated on August 7, 2023 by Vishnu Nambiar
In this article, you will be reading details about job openings and opportunities for Indian Nursing graduates abroad. You will be reading facts and information about demand gap, foreign countries to build a career in, career trends, advanced courses to boost career prospects after nursing etc.
Nursing course is very well known for the employment generating prowess that is possesses! It is a highly job oriented course. Indian nursing graduates have been going abroad and building a rewarding career there for a long time now.
Nursing and career trends abroad
Almost all countries are facing shortage of qualified nurses! With rising population, demand for healthcare professionals is rising everywhere. Nurses are in huge demand as a result of this trend.
The demand for nurses is huge in developed countries. The population there is increasing. But lesser number of youngsters is interested in taking up nursing as a career. As a result of this, with each passing year, the number of nurses graduating from nursing schools is decreasing in developed countries. On the other hand, population is increasing and there is huge demand for qualified nurses to maintain a healthy patients to nurses ratio!
This has become a global problem. According to International Council for Nurses and the Florence Nightingale International Foundation, developing countries could help solve this issue to an extent. In case of developing countries like India, students taking up nursing education are relatively higher. Indian graduates could go to developed countries and ply their trade there, thus solving the issue of demand gap (for nurses) there to an extent!
Demand for Indian nurses are huge in countries like- the USA, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Gulf countries, Switzerland, Germany and Canada. Thanks to health development programs undertaken by the WHO in African continent, there also exists demand for Indian nurses in African countries too!
Course, qualifications and grades matters!
When it comes to work abroad opportunities for Indian nurses, the qualification that they possess matters a lot! Degree course (B.Sc.) is much more valued that traditional course! Having pursued postgraduate course (like M.Sc.) will significantly increase the value of an Indian nurse!
To land a job abroad, nursing graduates must also be proficient in English! They should score high score in English proficiency test such as IELTS/TOEFL. The better the score, the more will be the chances of getting employed!
Other than English proficiency test, graduates may also have to appear for qualifying examination to be considered eligible to work as a nurse in a particular foreign country. Take the USA for example; foreign nurses have to clear the CGFNS (Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools) examination to be considered eligible to become a nurse there. Such qualifying exams and their terms may vary from one country to another!
PG courses
A good method to ease up the process of finding a job abroad after nursing is by doing postgraduate course abroad. Pursuing PG courses from countries like the USA, the UK and Canada is highly beneficial in terms of employability! Indian B.Sc. Nursing graduates may pursue MS as well as PhD courses in the above mentioned countries after clearing GRE and an English proficiency test (TOEFL/IELTS).
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Some good areas of specialization are- Public health, child health and palliative care. Some good management courses, which can be pursued are nursing management and hospital management.
I am Vishnu Nambiar a career and educational blogger from India. I am also a full time educational consultant having more than 12 years of experience in the educational sector.
I share articles related to courses, colleges, careers, exam tips and more here.