Global Skills Opportunity

Western University and Global Skills opportunity

What is Global Skills Opportunity (GSO)?

Western was a proud participant in the Global Skills Opportunity (GSO) program, a key component of the Government of Canada’s International Education Strategy, which aimed to help mobilize more Canadian students to go abroad, provide invaluable international study and work experiences and support students in strengthening their global skills and competencies.

The program aimed to empower post-secondary institutions to increase the participation of young Canadians—especially underrepresented students—in international learning opportunities both at home and abroad.

Western offered three GSO-funded programs to students seeking transformative learning experiences.

My GSO experience was so impactful because of the incredible people I got to learn from, whom I never would've met without participating in this program. This experience also opened the doors for incredible opportunities for me. I will forever be grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime experience that GSO made possible.
- Kayla Gauthier, BHSc’23, MSc Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Candidate)

Programs offered:

Students in Costa Rica learning

Global Connect Costa Rica

Western International's Global Connect program offered short-term in-person, group-based experiential learning opportunities through international study tours.

Through a combination of active experiential learning, cross-cultural exchanges and completion of an e-portfolio, participants gained the valuable leadership and intercultural skills needed to be global-ready graduates.

Students standing in front of a Muhima Hospital sign

Achieving equity and Global EDIDI competence in the Canadian health sector workforce

Western University and the University of Manitoba collaborated in a program to enhance equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization and Indigeneity (EDIDI) training in the health care professions.

The program supported 80 students from medicine, dentistry, nursing and other health professions to gain certification in EDIDI, and complete a 5-week experiential learning placement in Africa, with the goal of preparing health care professionals to work with and understand diverse populations. In addition to financial support, accommodation arrangements were provided as needed and/or appropriate, including on-the-ground support by faculty/staff teams and/or companions, during placements in Africa.

Students standing together in front of a statue

Aging Globally

Aging Globally was an international course that introduced students to healthcare systems, public health policies, homecare delivery practices, hospitals, long-term care homes, aging research and exemplary community initiatives in three Scandinavian countries: Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The objective of the course was to explore and identify what we could learn from arguably the best healthcare systems in the world when it comes to disease prevention, management of chronic disease, well-being, and health-related quality of late life.