Institutions of higher learning often lack the resources or expertise to develop, maintain and implement incident action plans if and when an emergency occurs involving students or staff abroad.
Having a plans is the first step in a successful response to an incident abroad. Institutions of higher learning must develop incident action plans that include crisis response, communication, and recovery plans to meet the needs of their students and staff overseas. This includes plans to respond if a student is participating in a program offered through a third party.
The Prepared Abroad team will review current plans and procedures in place and measure them against what institutions of similar size and study abroad scope are utilizing as best practices. Next the team will work directly with study abroad program staff, previous study abroad program participants, and leadership teams to develop or improve current plans and procedures in place. In combination with this effort, the team and stakeholders would review and develop associated roles and responsibilities for a crisis response team. This review would culminates with a Study Abroad Incident Action Plan which would include a crisis communication plan, crisis response plan, and evacuation plan.
Institutions of higher learning are prepared to respond quickly and compassionately to their students and staff following an incident. Study Abroad Incident Action Plans ensure institutions are following the appropriate measures to provide duty of care, proper incident investigations, and safe evacuations of students if necessary.
