Graphic by Cady Herring
Due to many international crises, The University of Mississippi’s Study Abroad program ensures the safety of those participating.
Susan Scott, director of the Study Abroad program, said there are study programs located on every continent except for Antarctica and safety is the program’s top priority.
“We are very careful when we decide to adopt a program or adopt a partner,” she said.
Scott emphasized that whenever they are looking into starting a new program they are very careful with whom they select.
“We do not open or start a program without somebody having been there,” she said.
Scott said their office is very close with the offices abroad due to the relationships created through conferences and meetings attended throughout the year.
“You get to be friends with these people and you trust them,” she explained. “That’s how we feel comfortable being able to send students to these places.
Study Abroad pays attention to travel warnings and alerts provided by the U.S. State Department.
A travel alert is a short-term event the State Department thinks the public should know when planning to travel to a given country. The risks include an election season prone to strikes, demonstrations or disturbances, a health alert such as H1N1 or an increased risk of terrorist attacks.
“If there is a travel warning, it is our policy not to have Study Abroad in that country until the warning is lifted,” Scott said. “We just don’t want to take the risk at all.”
A few years ago when a tsunami and earthquake damaged the nuclear reactor in Fukushima, Japan, there was an immediate travel warning.
Scott said they contacted students studying in Japan immediately and gave them the option to leave the country or to stay and finish out the program.
Students do not need to worry if there is a place they wanted to travel to for a certain language because Study Abroad has many programs that engage in the same language, according to Scott. For example, Mexico is now suspended because of the increase of violence, but there are other programs located in Spain, Chile, Argentina and many more.
Scott said there is an orientation prior to the students travel in order to explain basic common sense about how to travel safely, while a more in depth orientation is held after students arrive at their destination.
“We make recommendations, and we make warnings,” she said. “Ours is more general while theirs is more specific because they know more about the place than we do.”
Scott said parents should not be afraid of sending their children abroad because it is an experience students should have.
“If they think their son or daughter is mature enough to go away to college then their son or daughter is mature enough to go abroad,” she said. “They will come back much more self confident and mature.”
Alex Borst, sophomore international studies major, said the program does a great job setting up the travel agenda, but he still ran into a few problems.
“We had issues with our host mother while we were in Germany and eventually had to move into a hostel,” he said. “I think more background information should be required for host parents and alternative means of housing should be planned and presented in case issues arise.”
Austin Vitale, a senior public policy major, spent three weeks studying abroad in China.
“I was nervous to travel outside of the country for the first time,” Vitale said. “But I never felt like terrorism or unrest were real possibilities with the ubiquitous police and army presence in China.”
Vitale spent three weeks studying abroad in China and found that the study abroad program made him feel more comfortable and safe during his time in China.
“Besides warning us of the inherent risks of being in unfamiliar surroundings, the study abroad office worked with our host university to make sure we knew how to be safe in China,” he said.
Scott encourages students to participate in the study abroad program.
“It will be the single best educational experience that a student will ever have,” she said.
There will be a Study Abroad fair located in the Student Union lobby on Sept. 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
