Enhancing student professional and personal development: Best practices for student engagement from over a decade of hosting Global Health Case Competitions

An interdisciplinary and innovative Global Health Case Competition (GHCC) has been hosted since 2011 by the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health. The GHCC invites undergraduate, graduate, and professional students across Vanderbilt University to tackle global health challenges as a way to build skills in global health project development and professional competencies. Since its launch, the GHCC has prioritized student leadership by engaging over 120 student leaders and 200 student volunteers who design and manage every facet of the competition. From conceptualization to presentation, students, along with university mentors, play a vital role in crafting an intentional GHCC that provides participants with a global health experience that enhances professional skills in critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. Case competitions have been growing in popularity, particularly in consulting and finance, but an evidence-based framework for planning and evaluating these competitions, especially in global health, has not been established. Through surveying student participants, volunteers, and leaders, we have identified five best practices: student ownership, partnership with an external global health organization, interdisciplinary and interprofessional approach, institutional support, and mentorship. Analyses of these principles on student impact have suggested a direct association with students’ overall experience as well as positive growth in their personal and professional development. These principles can inform similar competitions at other universities and could catalyze experiential learning opportunities on real-life global health issues.