Have a good trip?

Study abroad trips need to remain safe

Studying abroad is one of the best opportunities that students can have to expand their liberal arts education and broaden their life experiences. Encountering firsthand unfamiliar cultures and customs, foreign languages and unknown settings, students are provided with a more extensive education than what they would normally receive on campus.

But in order for students to take full advantage of the rewarding and exciting experience that study abroad programs offer, safety must be a priority. Students, along with government officials and University administrators, must establish and maintain a few important ground rules for study abroad programs.

Government officials and University study abroad programs need to do more to help increase the safety of their students studying in foreign countries. They need to ensure safe travel and contact accessibility with students from any university or college, not just wealthy private schools or large universities with well-established programs.

This can be achieved most efficiently by government regulations to standardize the safety measures of study abroad programs at universities to follow the best run programs in the country.

Even with these changes, the most important thing for students preparing to study in a foreign country is to learn as much as they can about their country before going there. This means reading specific guidebooks from libraries and bookstores, following the guidance provided by their study abroad program, reading the advisories of the United States State Department and talking to former study abroad students for advice. Following these steps will allow participants to become more aware of what to expect when they study abroad and given them greater insight on the customs, current news and styles, cultural practices and politics of the country they will be visiting.

When studying abroad, students shouldn't expect an environment similar to the United States. Every country is unique, and the varying customs, lifestyles and atmospheres that exist among us are what separate one country from another.

Of course, these risks should not discourage students from continuing to study abroad. Classroom learning is always important, but there is no learning environment that can replace experiencing something firsthand. The ability for students to travel to a country to study a foreign language or take up residence in a country to study a particular style of government is indispensible and should not be curtailed in any way by recent incidents involving study abroad trips.

By being open to new situations and perspectives, whether going abroad for a year, summer or semester, studying abroad has the ability to be one of the greatest experiences of a student's college career.

Government officials and University administrators must work together to ensure that study abroad trips are as safe as possible for students. Students must share some of the burden as well, by doing research on their destination.