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GeneralAll W&L faculty are encouraged to learn as much about the study abroad process as possible to assist in your advising of students. You are invited to visit the Office of International Education in Tucker Hall to learn more about the study abroad resources available to students and their faculty advisors. In general, these resources include comprehensive catalogs of program options as well as brochures and other specific information on particular programs and overseas universities. Individual advising sessions at the Office will help guide students in their use of these resources. W&L students interested in studying abroad may choose from our own Spring Term Abroad programs, from semester, summer or year long study abroad programs sponsored by other U.S. universities or study abroad organizations, or they may apply as a visiting student directly to an overseas university. W&L does not keep an absolute list of 'approved' programs or universities abroad, but we do establish criteria for the evaluation of these, maintain on-going relationships with programs with which we have had success (many of them listed on this web site), and will steer our students towards these programs. We will prohibit a student's participation for W&L credit in programs which we have not approved. Students seeking credit for study abroad should consult with the Office of International Education as early as possible to learn about the credit approval process and deadlines for application. All students participating in a study abroad experience approved for W&L credit must also participate in our orientation and debriefing meetings. Any faculty member with either general or specific questions on undergraduate study abroad should contact the Office (8145). Faculty Guidelines for Undergraduate Spring Term abroad ProgramsAny faculty member or university administrator involved in the growing market of sending or accompanying students abroad is faced with a number of compelling questions. Several of these are quite basic, having to do with the planning, implementation, and administration of any program conducted overseas. Others are more complex, assuming certain levels of institutional responsibility in areas governing not only the academic basis of a program but also the health, safety and security of our students while abroad. In any study abroad activity undertaken by one of our students, W&L naturally assumes a certain level of responsibility for the advising and guidance of the student in assessing and selecting a study abroad program; if we offer credit for the program, we should have confidence in the instruction and experience being offered. We also must play a role in the evaluation of students' experiences upon their return to W&L and in the integration of those experiences into our own curricular and co-curricular activities. The Office of International Education and the Faculty Committee on International Education assume important functions in this process, although departments and individual faculty members also play an integral role. External programs in which our students participate must be evaluated with regard to their academic content as well as their overall conformity to W&L's basic community and educational standards. Internally administered programs, such as spring term courses abroad, must meet the Faculty's commitment to excellence in instruction and in the level of student support afforded. In planning a course which will be conducted abroad, areas of institutional responsibility necessarily expand. Of special concern to international educators and university administrators especially for those programs offered and administered internally is the central issue of what level and type of responsibility is borne by an individual faculty member, by the student, and/or by the institution should something go wrong. Central to this latter question is the concept and exercise of reasonable care when making decisions affecting the program a standard to which students, faculty and the institution should adhere during all phases of this activity. If a student is engaged in one of our several official exchange programs or enrolled in a program with which we maintain a recognized affiliation or association, it is important that we offer the student the best information available to us concerning that program. If a student chooses a program with which we have little prior experience or relationship, our goal should be to help educate the student as to the types of information that might be important in his or her decision-making process. The Office of International Education can be of direct assistance in this. W&L Spring Term Abroad courses, however, offer more particular challenges in this area. Students are registered for classes at W&L during these programs. The faculty members teaching these classes accompany the students during the program, the travel components of which thus become even more critically linked to the home institution and to the individual faculty Program Director. Management of the students' curricular (and sometimes even non-curricular) activities may well fall within the general oversight of this Program Director, at least in the common practice that may be expected by some students and their families. Studying and traveling abroad can involve risks and W&L and our faculty involved in Spring Term Abroad or other sponsored programs overseas cannot insure the absolute safety of our students in every eventuality. Students are and must be responsible for their own actions and decisions. Nevertheless, there are basic planning and implementation strategies that we can undertake to further the overall goal of facilitating a program that is both academically rewarding and mindful of the health and safety of our students. Planning and Implementation: Reasonable CareReasonable care is the basic standard against which the operation of any study abroad program may be judged. It is above all simply the self-conscious exercise of good judgement and common sense on the part of the institution and the Program Directors during the planning and implementation of a program. The effective exercise of this reasonable care standard will help create a successful and safe program. There are several broad areas of concern to the institution and to faculty when including overseas study programs as a part of the curriculum. Each Program Director should review these and respond to the questions they suggest. Areas of most significance in this reasonable care review process include: Academic Mission and Performance Exercising reasonable care in each of these areas is important for any study abroad program for which a student may seek W&L credit for work performed off campus. This applies to externally offered courses of study through U.S. based study abroad programs, through direct enrollment in a foreign institution, or by whatever means as well as to our own offerings. It is with the programs that bear our own imprimatur, however, that we shoulder a higher level of responsibility. Standards and ResponsibilitiesThe oversight and management of a study abroad program is not solely the responsibility of any given faculty member who may serve as a Spring Term Abroad Program Director. The University as a whole, including all academic and administrative departments which may play a role in the proper functioning of any of these areas, must necessarily be involved in this process. At the same time, it is imperative that each individual Program Director conscientiously be engaged in reviewing all aspects of an off-campus course. This will help improve not only the quality of our programming but will also help demonstrate that the University is exercising reasonable care should this be necessary. Establishing basic standards which may be followed by any W&L study abroad program and individually applied to a given program by the Program Director is a central function of the Faculty Committee on International Education. Each Program Director, however, must understand these standards and see that they are properly applied. The level of responsibility assumed by a faculty member who takes on the role of overseas Program Director does not extend in most cases to an expanded legal exposure for that director or for other faculty involved. W&L itself accepts the burden of this liability and will indemnify employees sued in their individual capacities for activities performed while conducting University business in furtherance of their University duties as long as their conduct was not criminal or willful misconduct. Offered below are some basic guidelines which can be used by any Program Director in performing a basic reasonable care review to see that responsible standards are employed in the development and implementation of a University-sponsored study abroad program. Academic Mission and Performance StandardsThese standards' simply reflect the commitment made by the University to see that the educational experience afforded by a study abroad program will adhere to the same basic principles that govern the rest of our curriculum. To be effective, study abroad programs should: have a clear purpose;
The department offering a course and the Faculty Committee on International Education are the initial reviewers of a proposed Spring Term Abroad course. The Committee on Courses and Degrees and the full faculty must also approve any new course offering. It is ultimately the instructor's responsibility to see that the course meets its stated goals. At the end of the program, students should feel that they have been fully engaged in an academic process. This should imply an academic rigor similar to what they would expect had they been enrolled for a similar number of credits on campus; students should not feel that they have simply been on an interesting tour or vacation. At the same time, however, students abroad are in many cases involved in the learning process throughout the day. There is an obvious recognition that the academic rigor and objectives of an overseas program are measured by much more than simply class hours and assigned readings. It is the appropriate balance achieved between experience and academics that defines a well-organized study abroad program. Program Planning and AdministrationIn planning an overseas program, there are several basic principles that should be followed. Obvious among these are the simple rules that 1) travel planning should be based upon achieving an appropriate balance between convenience, comfort and cost. and 2) directions and instructions governing both curricular and extra-curricular activities on the program should be as clear, consistent, and complete as possible. Some further basic guidelines that may help to create the efficient and successful administration of a program include (but are certainly not limited to) such issues as: the initial proposal; this should be presented to the faculty committee
in as clear and comprehensive a format as possible; it should include
the proposed curriculum, travel sites and itinerary, means of travel, local
housing arrangements, and a completed Courses and Degrees Committee form;
However important its proper planning, in the end any program is only as good as its organization and implementation. Good program administration is ideally almost invisible but nonetheless critical to a successful outcome. The administrative process for a W&L Spring Term Abroad course has numerous, well defined steps along the way. These begin nearly a year in advance with the initial presentation of the program to the Faculty Committee on International Education through the Course Listing/Proposal Form. They conclude with an end-of-program evaluation. A few key points of this administrative process include:
Program Directors will receive copies of the Spring Term Abroad Course Evaluation forms before their departure. Each student on the course is required to complete this evaluation at the conclusion of the program. Completed forms should be returned by the Program Director to the Office of International Education by July 1. Any unspent funds along with a Travel Report accounting should be submitted to the Business Office within two weeks of your return. A list of logistical support providers can be found through International Educator.Com Health and Safety StandardsNo faculty member leading a program is expected to be an expert on all of the various health and safety issues which may occur during the course of a program. At the same time, students (and their parents) will expect that students are: participating in a venture that is relatively free from predictable
harm;
Travel, housing and other arrangements should be made with the first of these in mind ("relatively free from predictable or foreseeable harm"), requiring that each Program Director is satisfied as to the relative security of the various portions of the trip. When possible, transferring the bulk of this responsibility to an expert' in the field a well-respected tour operator or someone with intimate knowledge of the region may help ease the burden on the Program Director. Both the Program Director and the students involved should be as fully informed as possible, both about current conditions in those sectors of the travel industry which they will be using and with regard to current conditions in their destination area(s). Also, the Program Director must be prepared to serve as a resource to students who may require medical care or who express concerns about their safety or security, seeking the assistance of qualified experts as soon as possible. Our University Health Services will be happy to help a faculty member prepare a basic travel health kit to help deal with minor ailments. Students cannot always be protected from any possible threat and the best laid plans may run afoul of bacteria or bandits. The only adage here is the simplest one: be prepared for the unexpected. Each faculty member should have formulated a plan as to how to respond to a medical or security problem, including use of the Emergency Response Protocol discussed below. There are several easy steps that can be taken to help minimize possible threats to our students and to the program. These should be an integral part of the program orientation and will include discussion on topics such as: health issues, perhaps with the participation of someone from the
University Health Services; topics to cover should include some basic
background about the medical system, pharmaceutical, and general health
services offered at your destination, advising students to see that they
have and understand their insurance coverages, precautionary medications
or inoculations which need to be obtained, information about alcohol
and substance abuse laws in the country or countries you will be visiting,
and advice on obtaining personal health items before departure;
In addition to these general precautionary measures, the Inter-Organizational Task Force on Health and Safety in Study Abroad (a joint effort of the major international education professional assosications CIEE, NAFSA, and the Association of International Education Administrators) has issued a much more comprehensive set of "Guidelines for Program Sponsors" (May 1997) which we endorse. For our purposes, in some cases we may read "sponsor" to refer to the institution, in some cases to the individual Program Director. These "Guidelines" read as follows: A. Guidelines for Program Sponsors To the extent reasonably possible, all program sponsors should endeavor to meet these guidelines. It must be noted that both the structure of study abroad programs and the purposes of sponsoring organizations vary widely, and that due to these variations, the guidelines outlined below may be met using different strategies depending on the nature of each program. In particular, program sponsors which rely heavily on the collaboration of overseas institutions may exercise less direct control over specific program components. In such cases, sponsors are urged to share these guidelines with the representatives of these institutions and request that they operate consistently with the health and safety guidelines of the program. Program sponsors should: 1. Conduct periodic assessments of health and safety conditions for
the program, and develop and maintain an emergency preparedness and crisis
response plan.
B. Guidelines for Participants Participants can have a major impact on their own health and safety abroad through the decisions they make before and during the program and by their day-to-day choices and behaviors. Participants should: 1. Read and carefully consider all materials issued or recommended by
the sponsor that relate to safety, health, legal, environmental, political,
cultural, and religious conditions in host countries.
C. Guidelines for Parents and Guardians. Parents and guardians play an important role in the health and safety of younger participants by helping them make decisions and by influencing their behavior overseas. When appropriate, parents or guardians should: 1. Obtain and carefully evaluate health and safety information related
to the program, as provided by the sponsor, the Center for Disease Control,
the U.S. Department of State, and other sources.
You may wish to provide a copy of these participant and parental guidelines to your students and suggest that they share them with their parents. It is available from the NAFSA web site at along with other information which may be of interest. Also of potential interest is the WWW site Multilingual Glossary of technical and popular medical terms in nine European Languages Emergency Response Protocol and StandardsAn emergency response protocol establishes basic guidelines and procedures which can be followed in the event of an unexpected or unusual situation. It is a tool which may help to establish a pattern of assessment and response, assisting in both the proper evaluation and reaction to a given situation. By its nature it must remain flexible enough to provide an appropriate recourse in widely divergent circumstances, yet also formulaic enough to be easily initiated by those involved. There are several key steps involved in the use of any such protocol. In the field, these include: initial assessment of the incident, with the gathering of as many
facts as possible concerning all of those involved and the exact nature
and circumstances of the event;
This first call will either be to your dean or to William Klingelhofer in the Office of International Education. If you can't reach either of these, you can call Brian Shaw, Vice President for Communications and Public Relations. If you can't reach anyone, call University Security, which is open 24 hours, and tell them it's an emergency. They will locate someone. Each faculty member and student on a trip will be given a pocket-sized card containing all of these important W&L phone numbers. In practice, there is no way to predict all the types of unfortunate or unexpected events that could occur in the course of a study abroad program. These might include: a serious illness, injury or the death of a member of the party;
Considering the range of such unlikely but possible events which might require an emergency response, it is very difficult to say if "this" happens, then you should do "that" (or if "that" happens, then you should do "this"). Much will depend upon your immediate assessment of the situation and the logical first steps. There are, however, some basic guidelines that ought to be followed. An expert in public relations, Brian Shaw suggests that one way to think about these guidelines is as concentric circles, starting with the individual or individuals involved in the center. That individual or those individuals must be cared for first. From that point, the circles move out and the needs of the family, the traveling party, the university, and finally, the media and others must be addressed. He also offers the following excellent advice: In the event that a death, serious injury or calamitous event occurs to a member of your traveling party, issues such as medical care, psychological counseling for the entire party, emergency transportation, and others must be addressed. It is only after the needs of everyone in your group have been taken care of that you should turn your attention to dealing with the media and/or public relations issues, and this only after consultation with the appropriate parties at W&L. If you find yourself and your group in a crisis which will garner public relations or media attention, it is imperative that you immediately make contact with someone at the University. Immediately means immediately, regardless of the time difference. Your contact here will be charged with putting together an emergency response team that will evaluate your situation and make recommendations for responding. You should have this pocket-sized directory with you at all times and not in your luggage back at the hotel. Remember, when calling back to campus, it is crucial that you leave a phone number where you can be reached. It is essential that you don't speak to anyone except medical personnel, local law enforcement representatives, and U.S. embassy or consulate officials until you have reached the University. By all means, avoid speaking to the media until after you have spoken to the University and we have all agreed upon a plan for communications. Much of the communication to the media can be handled from Lexington, so resist the entreaties by the media and refer them to our office. Once the situation has been evaluated, it may be prudent for you to speak to the media, either individually or through a news conference. We also may arrange a news conference on campus, thereby relieving you of that burden. Those decisions can be made only after the situation has been fully evaluated and the families of those involved in the incident and the university community have been notified. If you are contacted by a member of the media during an emergency or incident and you have NOT been in contact with the University, please use the following statement: My first responsibility is to the students on this trip, to their families, and to the university. I will be happy to discuss this matter with you after I have contacted those parties. Thank you for understanding. ConclusionIf any of the above sounds daunting, it is only a measure of the responsibility which we undertake in extending our educational environment to include the world. There are, however, sufficient resources on campus and in the professional education and travel fields linked to W&L to provide the assistance and support needed, both by the institution and by any individual faculty member engaged in this type of activity. The challenge of creating a successful program abroad is more than equaled by the reward of its successful outcome. Faculty Committee on International Education Chair, Kirk Follo
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