Introduction. The process of globalization, socio-economic transformations, the shortage of medical staff in other countries, the possibility of taking up a job for nurses outside the territory of the Republic of Poland visually determine professional plans of nursing students of the Opole Medical  School in the academic year 2016/2017. Objective. Getting acquainted with professional plans of first cycle students in the field of nursing education at the Opole Medical  School (Państwowa Medyczna Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa) in Opole. Material and methods. The study covered 181 undergraduate nursing students in Opole. The method of the diagnostic survey was used with the survey technique, to which the author’s questionnaire was developed. Results. 92.3% of respondents plan to work in a trained profession while 32.9% of the surveyed students plan to undertake work in a profession outside Poland. Conclusions. Vocational migration is a strongly emphasized scenario for the future career of nursing students, and the guarantee of a better payment is a dominant factor influencing this decision.

Key words: nurse, occupation, occupational plans.