Faculty-led Study Abroad Program

Pre-departure Checklist

1. Make sure that you have copied (or left originals of) all application forms, waivers, etc. with the study abroad office and/or Campus Security, along with a detailed itinerary and overseas contact information. This information should include emergency contact information (usually parents’ phone and email) for each participant. The Study Abroad Office should know how to get in touch with both you and someone else in your host country who can relay a message to you.

2. You should also carry with you emergency contact information for each participant, as well as a photocopy of each participant’s passport picture page (the participants should also carry a copy and a third copy can be left with the Study Abroad Office in the event that the other two are lost).

3. Make sure that you and your group are all familiar with the contact information for the nearest US embassy or consulate in your host country, as well as any others where the group may be traveling.

4. As soon as you arrive in your host destination and have checked into your lodgings, contact the Study Abroad Office Office, either by phone or email, to confirm that you have arrived safely. In the first instance, contact Sabina Post (posts@etown.edu). If she is away, contact the Dean of Faculty or the Dean of Students.

5. Each time you arrive in a new destination with your group, make sure that you know which participants are rooming together and what those room numbers are. Make sure that they also know which room number you are staying in and how to contact you (provide a cell phone number). This will help you to quickly determine who is missing in a crisis.

6. Once your participants have settled into their lodging, call the group together to have a ‘post-arrival orientation’. Use a map to familiarize your group with the local surroundings. Talk about how to use the phones, the public transportation, exchange money, etc. Spend a little time walking around the area and helping the group acclimate to their new environment.

7. As part of your ‘post-arrival orientation,’ talk about how you expect participants to respond in an emergency. Go over the steps you will follow in a variety of possible crises. You may have already done this during a pre-departure orientation session, in which case use this opportunity to test how well your participants remember what they were told. You can never reinforce this information too much!

7a: Agree in advance on a meeting point in the event of a sudden emergency, such as the hotel reception desk or a phone booth just outside the hotel.

8. Make sure that your group knows where the nearest hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office is located and how to get there quickly. Remind the group about International SOS services and contact numbers. Make sure that everyone is carrying their SOS card and their health insurance information with them at all times.

9. Make sure that the group is familiar with how to call a taxi and, if you are in a non-English speaking country, how to provide directions in the native language to both the lodging and any other important destinations such as hospitals or embassies. Elizabethtown College’s Study Abroad Office

10. Be very clear with participants about what you expect in terms of behavior, especially with regard to alcohol consumption. Go over the ‘Study Abroad Policies – Short Term’ (provided by the Study Abroad Office and found in the Faculty Short-term Handbook). You may make additional policies of your own, but make sure that what you tell your group is in agreement with both the Elizabethtown College study abroad policies as well as the laws in your host country. Make sure that students and other participants are aware of the laws in your host country that may apply to them (drinking age, curfews, etc.).

11. Never offer to buy a student an alcoholic drink. If a student is on a group outing and asks for cash to buy a drink, explain that it is against College policy to do so.

12. If a student experiences a problem that delays him/her and/or causes the student to become separated from the rest of the group, it is your responsibility to stay with that student until the problem is resolved. If you are the sole faculty leader and there is no other adult available to travel on with the group, contact the Study Abroad Office for advice and guidance. If the situation is serious enough, the Study Abroad Office of may send a staff member over to help you.

13. If you have to send a student home as a result of disciplinary problems, notify the Study Abroad Office first to receive instructions. It will be important to notify the student’s family and to make some of the arrangements from the US. Do not send a student home without notifying the Study Abroad Office first!

14. If a student misses a flight, or is unable to fly with the rest of the group due to illness, lateness, overbooking, loss of passport, etc., it is your responsibility to stay with that student and travel with him/her on to your next destination. If this means that you will leave the rest of the group without an adult leader, contact the Study Abroad Office for guidance and instructions.

15. Under normal circumstances, do not loan money to any participants. In the event of an emergency, you may need to help a participant by loaning him/her cash, but be sure to keep a written record of how much you loan and how/when it will be paid back (assuming you want your loan returned). If you find yourself in a situation where a student is facing substantial charges, contact the Study Abroad Office for guidance. The College cannot guarantee coverage for substantial loans that faculty leaders make in emergency situations (although will attempt to do so if possible).

16. Be available 24/7. Your responsibility as group leader does not end at 5:00pm as it would in the US. You must be available for your group the entire time you are traveling with them. Make sure everyone in your group has your cell phone number and knows how to contact you.

17. Although you are a group leader, make sure that when accompanying the group from one place to another you are the last person to enter or board. Make sure that your participants are all accounted for and not straying or straggling behind.

18. If you give your group free time to explore on their own, make sure that they understand that this doesn’t mean that they are free to stop observing the study abroad policies during their free time. Communicate clearly when ‘free time’ begins and ends. Remember that the highest amount of ‘incidents’ occur during free time!

Contacts at Study Abroad Office:

Sabina Post, Study Abroad Office, 361-1347 (office)

Campus Security 717-361-1263

Kay Wolf, Admin. Asst., 717-361-1147 (office)