Getting Started
Getting started is perhaps the most exciting and over whelming stage. Remembering this is an educational trip, not a vacation and staying focused on the objective will help a great deal.
Reach out to your international department: if your school has an international department, reach out to them as a starting point. They can be a wealth of knowledge and share with you past experiences. Furthermore, they often have connections to other institutions abroad whom they can help partner you with.
Make your intentions known to them before putting the work into your proposal. You wouldn’t want to put all that hard work in to find out that travel budgets are on hold or that another faculty has already planned a similar trip taking place in the same time frame.
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Start early: you might have a great idea to take your students aboard for a conference or trade expo. Make sure to start your planning early. It takes time for school administrators to complete the risk assessment and get all the required approvals so that you can put forth this opportunity to your students. Then it can take a few weeks to months for students to apply, be vetted and acquire their travel documents.
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Consider where you will go: when considering where to take your students there are a few variables that you will want to consider. Consider what your students are learning as part of their program and how the trip that you will take will enhance their overall learning. Choose a location that offers various experiential activities that could not be replicated in the regular classroom. I like to also consider how this experience will enhance each student as they move forward. Will this give them international experience in their field of work? Will this experience expose them to new cultures and provide them with distinction different global views?
Talk to those who’ve been there, done that and have the t-shirt: I was very blessed to have access and support from fellow colleagues who had been abroad before me. They shared their experiences and tips with me and were able to answer questions that I had in regards to policies and procedures. It was also nice to have a team cheering me on throughout the planning process.
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Check travel advisories: your school’s international department or school administrators will want to complete a risk assessment to ensure your proposed travel plans are safe. Be aware of global happenings in the news and attempt to stay away from regions of political unrest. Be sure that the country you are proposing to travel to is safe and welcoming to visitors from your home country. The government of Canada offers a great online resource for this. Here you can check out each country and its safety and security level.
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