NAIS - As Schools Expand Study Abroad Programs, Focus Turns to Risk Assessment

With a greater number of study abroad programs in more independent schools, concern about the possible risks involved is rising — and warranted. According to a recent study conducted by NAIS and United Educators, no universal policies exist regarding risk management, waivers of liability on trips, background checks for trip leaders and host families, contracts with vendors, or processes for evaluating the effectiveness of trips. Insufficient funding could be the reason for the policy omission, as more than half of surveyed schools reported a budget of less than $15,000 for their overseas trips and programs.

The Nature of Study Abroad Programs

Sixty-four percent of schools said they conducted one or more international trips each year, according to the NAIS/United Educators survey. Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported that 50 or fewer students participated in such trips in a given year. Only 7 percent of schools send 100 or more students abroad. Almost 90 percent of trips last one month or less, and the top 10 destinations are Spain, France, Italy, China, Costa Rica, the UK, Germany, India, Canada, and Peru.

Forty-two percent of schools have a ratio of one trip leader to every six students or fewer.

Almost all schools in the survey require student participants and trip leaders (95 and 94 percent respectively) to attend trip orientation sessions; 78 require parents to attend sessions.

Risk Management Survey Findings

Risk management in travel abroad programs has been getting significant attention within independent schools, largely due to a multimillion dollar verdict against an independent school in March 2013. In summer 2013, NAIS and United Educators joined to survey their members to understand the kinds of risk management that schools were implementing on their trips abroad. Following the survey, a joint summit brought together experienced global directors and other school administrators who had been overseeing such travel and study abroad programs in independent and other private schools. Summit participants reviewed the survey data and discussed common and best practices in the areas addressed by the survey. Among the key findings:

More than 60 percent of schools use some form of a centralized oversight approach to international travel. Summit schools agreed that this oversight allows for greater consistency in management.
Ninety-five percent of responding schools require a parent waiver of liability. These forms are state-specific and should be reviewed regularly by legal counsel. Schools should never “borrow” forms from other schools or vendors without review by counsel.
Twenty-three percent of schools that use host families or foreign national staff that have unsupervised interactions with students (approximately 77 percent of schools sending students on international trips) do some “vetting” or background checks on host families. Of that group, only 28 percent use background checks. Summit schools agreed that specific issues surfaced with host families and staff from other countries. For starters, background checks are not always available as they are in the United States, and the cultural implications of asking someone to submit to one are different. Schools employ various approaches to vet families, including using partner schools or NGOs or performing visits with each family before the trip. One summit school noted that these can be particularly complicated situations and schools should think about whether the home stay is crucial to the cultural purposes of the trip.
Only 52 percent of schools responding to the survey have crisis management plans specifically for study abroad programs. Summit schools agreed that having a crisis management plan and ensuring that trip chaperones, student participants, parents, and any third-party vendors are familiar with the plan are crucial to a trip’s success, even in the face of a potentially disruptive situation.
Sixty-four percent of schools work with third-party vendors to execute trips. Of this group, 69 percent have a signed contract with the third-party vendor, although 36 percent do not know exactly what is in the contract. When third parties take on responsibility for some aspects of a school trip, clarity about the tasks they will be performing, the safety of the transportation and other elements they will provide, insurance, indemnification, and enforceability are all key aspects of the vendor agreement.

How important is global education (and a travel component) to your school? Does your school have a comprehensive risk management and crisis management plan for overseas trips and study?

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