Project work across borders in the arctic Barents region: Practical challenges for project members

SummaryThe aim of this article was to explore cross-border project cooperation in applied settings in health educations as this emerges in the Barents region. Specifically, we wanted to identify the practical challenges for those who participate in the work. This is of direct and indirect relevance to nursing education due to the rapidly increasing student exchange rates, the teachers’ increased impetus to take part in international collaboration, and the increased emphasis within nursing education to be culture sensitive and ethnically fair. The considerable differences between countries in the Barents region present clear challenges. Knowledge based on experience from everyday cross-cultural and multinational project work has not been communicated extensively, and each project will have to acquire its own knowledge. Based on participation in various cross-national collaboration projects, we organize the identified practical challenges into five interrelated, everyday challenges: (1) cultural differences: obvious and overlooked, (2) the continuous challenge of language, (3) organizational variations, (4) possibilities and obstacles related to technology, and (5) the important minutiae of project logistics. These exist in all stages of a project. In project applications, these challenges and corresponding realistic consequences for funding are vital. Nursing students and their teachers should be aware that practical cross-national project work poses important challenges that nevertheless might be overcome.