After a year of travel restrictions and canceled plans, summer study abroad programs are back.
Global Education Oregon, the University of Oregon’s travel abroad program, is holding 30 programs in 12 countries this summer, working closely with UO’s incident management team, travel advisory group and university leadership to ensure student safety regarding COVID-19 throughout each program.
For each destination, GEO’s health, risk and safety team has closely monitored safety criteria, including hospitalization rates, intensive care unit capacity and testing availability. The team takes these into consideration when approving programs.
The team assesses risk based on 19 different criteria on a weekly basis. UO’s International Travel Advisory Group reviews each program and Provost Patrick Philips approves them. They have also been looking at classroom density, transportation and excursion availability, Dean of Global Engagement Dennis Galvan said.
“A big part of what makes study abroad great is that, if you go to London, you also get to go to the Globe Theater, or you might go up Scotland,” he said. “We want students to have the full experience, as safely as possible.”
GEO launched a very limited study abroad program in winter 2021 with a handful of students traveling to South Korea. A few more students are currently studying in London. For these programs, GEO required students to quarantine on arrival, present a pre-departure negative test and be tested every week. Now, with the widespread availability of the vaccine, international travel will be made much easier, Galvan said. This summer, GEO requires all students to be fully vaccinated before departing.
“The biggest game changer is that the vaccine rate in the U.S. is so high now that countries that just four months ago were like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, Americans, why don’t you guys stay home a little longer,’ have changed their minds because vaccinating people is the one thing we’ve done well,” Galvan said.
Programs are subject to change if enrollment is too low, or if a destination becomes unsafe. GEO is less worried about countries changing their position on letting Americans in, and mainly preparing for a situation in which case numbers and hospitalization rates in a country become too high, Galvan said.
GEO will be continuing the No Passport Needed programs implemented in 2020 when it canceled summer study abroad programs. These programs are fully remote and allow students to experience some elements of studying abroad without leaving home. UO faculty and instructors from around the world lead the courses, featuring guest speakers and virtual tours. No Passport Needed courses are the same price as regular UO classes, and all students who enroll this summer will receive a $1,000 grant on a future in-person study abroad program.
UO sophomore Malia Mulligan is planning on participating in No Passport Needed to fulfill the intercultural experience requirement for her global studies major.
Mulligan will be taking a six-credit course focused on environmental and social justice in South America led by UO professor Derrick Hindery and two professors in Bolivia. No Passport Needed works best for her schedule, allowing her to get a global experience in a shorter period of time.
“I know that now they’re starting to open up some real study abroad options, but I’m glad that they’re kind of keeping these virtual ones as well,” she said.
When GEO canceled all in-person study abroad programs last year, many students opted to defer their trips to 2021. UO sophomore Maisie Topping planned to study abroad in France last year and had the opportunity to defer her program when it was canceled. As a French minor, she planned on traveling to Angers to attend a French immersion program for two months.
When the program was cancelled, Topping got her deposit fully refunded. As the year progressed, she realized that studying abroad this summer may not be worth it, and she chose to defer again and go in summer 2022.
“In my program everyone else would also be vaccinated, so for me, safety wasn’t the biggest factor,” she said. “I just didn’t think I was gonna have very much fun because France is super shut down right now.”
Galvan said that GEO has had a surprisingly high level of interest in study abroad this year, especially in their pre-freshman programs in London and Shanghai. Many applications for this summer are still open and students are encouraged to apply and look into financial aid opportunities.
“The university wants every student to have an open pathway to get to know the world,” Galvan said. “Becoming global citizens is a really important part of our education because we have to know the world in order to live in it and manage it.”
