A new code of ethics, to be released today by the Forum on Education Abroad, seeks to offer colleges, overseas-study providers, and foreign host institutions a “compass” to guide their management of study abroad.
The document lays out a set of broad ethical principles, calling for truthfulness and openness, for avoiding conflicts of interest, and for making students’ health, safety, and academic needs top priorities. It poses four questions to steer ethical decision making in education abroad, including “Is it true, fair, and transparent?” and “Does it foster international understanding?”
Unlike a report released in January by Nafsa: Association of International Educators (The Chronicle, January 25), the code provides detailed guidance to colleges and program providers. It recommends, among other things, that institutions have specific procedures for reporting payments, like honoraria and consulting fees, for work done on behalf of providers; that agreements and criteria for selecting study-abroad programs be disclosed fully; and that the goals and parameters for visits by campus officials to overseas-program sites be clearly established in advance of the trips.
In addition, the Forum on Education Abroad plans to provide its members with an online “toolbox” of resources, such as promotional materials for programs and sample itineraries for trips to evaluate overseas sites, and will offer workshops on setting up campus codes of ethics at its annual meeting, in April, said Brian J. Whalen, the group’s president.
The forum is a consortium of American and overseas colleges and outside providers founded six years ago to create standards of good practices for colleges and companies. Its members represent about 80 percent of American students who study abroad.
The Cuomo Investigation
The code of ethics evolved out of the consortium’s standards-setting work but was given additional “urgency” after Andrew M. Cuomo, the New York State attorney general, began an investigation last summer into some of the industry’s business practices, Mr. Whalen said (The Chronicle, February 1).
Representatives of more than 40 colleges and provider organizations worked throughout the fall to draft the code, a process that included reviewing ethical guidelines developed by other professional associations. The forum then solicited feedback from other study-abroad directors, university lawyers, and “government officials,” although Mr. Whalen declined to say whether a copy had been given to Mr. Cuomo’s staff. A spokesman for the attorney general could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Whalen said the working group did give “thorough attention” to practices apparently being scrutinized by Mr. Cuomo, including free trips to study-abroad locations for university officials and discounted rates in return for exclusive access to students. The code recommends that college administrators not accept paid trips “unless substantive work, such as program assessment or program development, is required.” It also calls on institutions to use any rebates or discounts to defray costs to students.
Forest and Trees
But Mr. Whalen and others involved in compiling the code say that it was not simply a response to Mr. Cuomo’s inquiry but was also meant to offer more-expansive guidance on all aspects of education abroad.
“We had to back away and look at the issues that, broadly, are going to affect study abroad over the long term,” said Adrian G. Beaulieu, dean of international studies at Providence College. “Otherwise, we would have been focusing on the trees and missing the forest.”
Mr. Beaulieu said he hoped to use the code to “inform and guide” his institution’s own review of its study-abroad practices. And Mr. Whalen said the document was not meant to proscribe specific practices but, rather, to offer colleges and companies direction in establishing their own policies.
“It’s meant to be aspirational,” he said.
Among more than 50 guidelines for ethical behavior, the Forum recommends that:
- Colleges and providers develop conflict-of-interest policies and procedures for dealing with such conflicts.
- Individuals not accept gifts, services, or other favors that could be construed as influencing their objectivity or their ability to do their jobs.
- Institutions, provider organizations, and their employees fully disclose service on advisory boards. Except in special circumstances, the costs of such work should be shared by the provider and the adviser’s institution, the report states.
- Institutional and organizational policies regarding the award and transfer of student financial aid for study abroad be open, communicated clearly, and readily accessible to students and their families.
- Colleges that limit student participation to approved programs frequently reassess those programs, considering student input and evolving campus needs.
- Existing and proposed study-abroad agreements be reviewed by legal counsel and risk-management officials.
- Colleges and companies seek to offer reciprocal opportunities that benefit both the sending and receiving countries’ educational institutions, students, and broader communities.
- Outside providers have a written policy outlining which student records, including electronic records, will be kept; who will have access to them; and how they will be discarded.
