Nurses Embark on Journey to the West

Traveling to Europe has been a dream for Song since childhood, as she views the continent as a place of fairy tales, ancient castles and a different culture. However, studying abroad is too expensive for her family of four from Jingzhou, a city in Hubei Province.

Although she couldn't afford to study overseas, Song never abandoned her dream. After studying foreign nursing care at Hubei University of Chinese Medicine for five years, she worked as an intern at a local hospital in 2012.

"But it was hard to practice what I learned in college. For example, health education was not highly valued," she said.

During this time, she heard of the nursing program between China and Germany, feeling the time was right to make a move. "I believe this working experience will give me a chance to be a real nurse," she said.

The shortage of nurses has become a problem in Germany, which has had an aging society for decades.

In July, 4,393 nurses in Germany were registered as unemployed, with 6,792 vacancies announced to the German Federal Employment Agency. For nurses caring for the elderly, there were 3,517 registered as unemployed, with 9,080 registered vacancies.

"In Germany, employers are not obliged to announce their vacancies to the Federal Employment Agency, so the latter figure might be even higher," said Marcel Schmutzler, a press official with the agency's International Placement Services Department.

Franz Wagner, chief executive officer of the German Nurses Association, said that in the past 10 years most of the foreign nurses in Germany came from Poland and Romania.

He said there are cultural differences and differences between the roles of nurses from country to country. "A nurse from Europe probably finds it easier to adjust than somebody from Asia or Africa," he said.

Huge population

Although the number of Asian nurses has not risen significantly in the past year, Wagner said Asia has become interesting for German employers, because of its huge population - China and India, in particular.

He said German employers have also found it difficult to find nurses in Europe who want to work in Germany, because working conditions for them there are not competitive when compared with those in Scandinavian countries, Britain or the United States.

"In these countries, nurses find better conditions, such as a lower workload, better recognition and image, less overtime and better salaries," Wagner said. "In addition, German is a difficult language to learn."

Although she has had German-language and culture training since September 2012 and has passed the language test, Song still lacks confidence in her upcoming trip.

"I watched some German TV programs, but felt they were hard to understand because they speak fast and sometimes with dialects," she said. "And also the letter 'r' is very difficult to pronounce."

Other questions about living in Germany are also on her mind. Are all shops and restaurants closed on Sundays? Can you still eat rice in a Western country? And do you have to buy boots in Germany, because of thick snow and extreme cold in winter?

A win-win deal

Compared with the average monthly salary of about 3,320 yuan (US$540 or about 400 euros) for a nurse in China, working overseas represents a good deal.

Wang Zhuwen, director of operations at Shandong International Nurse Training Center, which is responsible for training the 150 Chinese nurses who will work in Germany from this year, said: "Most overseas Chinese nurses earn more than they do in China. In Germany, the gross starting salary for nurses in public hospitals ranges from 2,190 to 2,365 euros (US$2,957-US$3,193) a month."