Information for Parents & Families

The Institute of International Education’s Parent Guide to Study Abroad has great suggestions for how to help your student navigate the study abroad journey. While it is critical to allow your student to take ownership over the process and be responsible for completing their requirements and paperwork, there are other ways parents and guardians can help.

The health and safety of our students is a priority for us. This is one reason for working with specific program providers who have been vetted by our office. The providers we work with have on-site staff who are experts in the program locations and trained to deal with potential emergencies and who are students’ primary resource while abroad.

Both Emmanuel and the providers we work with have established best practices for providing a safe and rewarding experience for our students and we continuously monitor guidelines set by the U.S. Department of State for U.S. citizens overseas through the Travel Advisories. We offer multiple avenues to arm students with critical health and safety tips including learning content visa their online application portal, frequent communication and resources from our office, a mandatory pre-departure meeting for all Colleges of the Fenway students participating in study broad, on-site orientations conducted via the program providers, and site-specific handbooks also provided by the program providers. Both Emmanuel and our provider partners have 24-hour emergency numbers. Emmanuel students studying abroad are covered by ISOS Medical Assistance and Cigna Insurance. More information on this policy can be found here.
 

We expect that students will be active and engaged participants in the study abroad process from researching programs, through the application process, while abroad and when they return. Taking an active role in the process will serve to help students gain confidence and independence and will be beneficial when they are abroad as they likely will face some challenging experiences as they navigate an unfamiliar place and cultural differences.

We expect to meet with students prior to beginning the application process so that we can ensure students have selected an appropriate vetted program for their academic and personal needs.

We expect that students will complete paperwork and other process requirements on time and will read all communications we send to them regarding study abroad. We also expect that they will share important information with any parent or guardian.

We expect that students will attend the mandatory pre-departure orientation the semester before going abroad as this session covers information adjusting while abroad, as well as health and safety while traveling.

We expect students will respond to emails and check Emmanuel email while abroad (as any official communication regarding their return to Emmanuel including information on subsequent semester registration and housing will be sent to that address only).