Volume 3, Number 1, 2005 Edition

Responsible Study Abroad: Good Practices for Health and Safety

Forum on Education Abroad

The Forum is a global membership association whose exclusive purpose is to serve the field of education abroad. It was created by experts in the field specifically to meet the needs of the profession. Its members worldwide are educational institutions, consortia, agencies, organizations, and individuals that provide, direct, manage or support education abroad opportunities. The Forum members represent 60% of the U.S. student population studying abroad. No other association provides the services and products provided by the Forum.

By offering opportunities for dynamic discourse and up-to-the-minute information sharing, The Forum promotes high quality and effective programming through:

• Advocating standards of good practice.
• Promoting the integration of education abroad into high-quality curricular development and academic design.
• Encouraging outcomes assessment.
• Conducting research and data collection.
• Engaging in advocacy of education abroad at all levels.

The Forum has made a firm commitment to developing and promulgating standards of good practice in the field of education abroad ("Standards of Good Practice in Education Abroad," June 2004). In January 2005, a major step was taken when the Department of Justice recognized The Forum as the Standards Development Organization (SDO) for the field of education abroad.

For more information about this designation, please visit: forum standards

The Forum standards committee has circulated a draft of guidelines intended to assist institutions in the study abroad field assess their operations and overseas study programs. The draft consists of broad qualitative expectations shared by study abroad professionals, queries designed to direct and assist institutions in program assessment and links to a broad range of resources that support the assessment process. The committee has invited institutions and programs to assist in the refinement of the draft by testing out sections of the document. The guidelines, when they are fully developed, are intended to serve as the primary reference point for the Forum in its role as a standards developing organization.

The Forum on Education Abroad's updated "Standards of Good Practice for Study Abroad" are available at: http://www.forumea.org/standards.html