Recent international crises have prompted evacuations of American and Canadian students studying abroad, and have lent some urgency to reviewing risk management for study abroad programs. One area needing particular attention is the role of faculty who are on the ground leading study abroad programs overseas. Trained in scholarship and pedagogy, these program leaders may be unaware of what additional safety and risk management training they may need in order to lead students overseas -- and many institutions offer little clarity of faculty members' roles while abroad.
This week, we turned to Margaret Wiedenhoeft, associate director of the Center for International Programs at Kalamazoo College (who manages study abroad programs in China, France, India, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Thailand), to ask for a checklist of questions faculty leading study abroad need to have answers to, informed by lessons learned from recent overseas crises.
Checklist of Safety Questions
Wiedenhoeft advises that faculty leaders of study abroad programs need to be equipped with ready answers to a series of safety and risk management questions:
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