Fostering Global Citizenship in Higher Education: Development of an International Course in Global Health

Introduction

Global citizenship development has become an integral part of the HE discourse; this discourse can and should be extended to include global health. Global health, alongside climate change, is one of the greatest contemporary challenges facing humanity. Considering this, universities have an opportunity to address contemporary societal issues that presumably their graduates will be grappling with after graduation. While there are many ways of engaging students with extant issues, study abroad and other internationally focused pedagogies can serve as a powerful approach. However, it has been argued, with specific reference to global health, that there is a ‘...need for a radical reform to curricula to foster engaged global citizenship; yet little is written depicting how individual courses and their instructors may support such reform’ (Hanson, 2010). This chapter will argue that HE and the process of study abroad can play a key role in the fight against non-communicable diseases (NCDs), a major global health issue. Specifically, a critical understanding of global health can aid in fostering global citizenship, which in turn may empower students to become civically engaged and potentially drive social change.