Postpandemic Perspectives: Welcome to the New Normal in Education Abroad

As COVID-19 spread across the globe in 2020, study abroad programs were turned upside down. The immediate concern was getting students back home safely, but within weeks it became clear that traditional international study was simply impossible. Nearly four years later, after a slow ramp-up, programs are finally back on something like their old footing.

“The pandemic was an unprecedented event,” says Jeannie Simmons, director of global education at Ohio State University. “We’ve gotten back now to having a more predictable rhythm to our work, with the familiar challenges, like a lost passport.” Yet, adds Simmons, “the new normal isn’t quite the same.”

The pandemic changed the landscape for study abroad programs in ways that are both short and long term. Some issues, such as where students can and want to study, seem likely to be resolved as time passes. Others, such as how programs assess risk and work with partners, have the hallmarks of permanent changes. Below, education abroad professionals at four institutions across the United States identified the aspects of programming that have changed the most.

Location, Location, Location

While study abroad has rebounded, the variety of program locations available to students is not as great as before the pandemic. “The locations that are really coming back are in western Europe: Spain, Italy, Denmark, the UK, France,” says Ellen Sayles, associate dean and director of education abroad at the University of Richmond. Indeed, the demand for this region has been so strong that Sayles’s program has expanded to other European countries, like Portugal and Croatia.

Simmons says a combination of factors may be at play in students’ favoring programs in western Europe. “When things opened up, there were fewer restrictions there,” particularly health protocols, she notes. “Europe has always been popular, but [student interest is] really heavy in Europe now. I don’t know if it’s the perception of safety or fear of the unknown, but for better or worse [that preference is] still there.”

“The locations that are really coming back are in western Europe: Spain, Italy, Denmark, the UK, France"—Ellen Sayles

Other locations have not regained their pre-pandemic popularity by students. Sayles says that her university has had some success encouraging students to choose programs in South Korea and Japan. However, China is only now beginning to recover from its stringent lockdown restrictions, and study abroad programs in Australia and New Zealand have been slow to attract students at pre-pandemic levels for similar reasons.

“We’ve had to pivot and send Chinese-language students to Taiwan to study Mandarin,” says Erica Jorgenson, assistant director of the Office of International Education at the University of Denver. While her school’s program doesn’t have students in China yet, the easing of restrictions there would allow students to return.

Encouraging study abroad in Africa continues to be a challenge, according to Simmons. “We’re having trouble getting back up and running there,” both on the programming side as well as attracting students to programs, she says. Simmons can’t point to a single reason as the cause, although cost of travel could be a contributing factor.

Changes in Processes and Student Needs

Another change is the amount of time it takes for recruitment, enrollment, and advising. “It just takes longer to do things compared to prior to the pandemic on every sort of level,” says Simmons. This is due to both staffing challenges—the pandemic initiated significant turnover, leaving education abroad offices without more seasoned staff and struggling to recruit new staff—and lagging approval processes. “Visa processing, passport approval—all of these processes are slowed down,” says Sayles. “We’ve had to move deadlines to allow time for students to get documents.”

Study abroad offices aren’t just spending more time on visa processing: They’re spending more time on students as well.

“It’s the same number of students, but it takes longer to talk to students,” says Simmons. “Some students missed developmental milestones and seem a little younger in terms of [their] questions and behavior. We have to make adjustments in terms of what we’ve observed, in terms of roommate disagreements, which in my 23 years [was] not something we would have had spent time on.”

Angelo Pisano, study abroad coordinator at Smith College, agrees. “Students aren’t ready for this experience,” he says. “We told them for three years to stay away from everyone and now [we’re saying] get out there and explore. It’s everything from roommate disputes to understanding what’s uncomfortable to what’s unsafe.”

Sayles says that students are more tentative than they were prior to the pandemic, with the result that they need more information sooner. “I think students feel the need for a little more certainty in life and travel,” she says. “We need to provide a greater level of detail earlier than prior to the pandemic.”

“It’s the same number of students, but it takes longer to talk to students. Some students missed developmental milestones and seem a little younger in terms of [their] questions and behavior."—Jeannie Simmons

As a result, study abroad offices have been rethinking how they prepare students for going abroad. “We are piloting a project for trickling predeparture throughout the semester, as opposed to the mandatory firehose,” says Pisano. For example, prior to the pandemic, students attended a three- to four-hour long orientation session. That’s been pared to an hour-long session focused on essential information, with a series of newsletters supplementing throughout the semester that follow the in-person orientation.

“It was really a response to what we were hearing from on-site directors and also a recognition that there’s a cognitive overload,” says Pisano.

Like Smith, the University of Richmond has been staging predeparture orientation materials in more manageable segments. “Maybe 10 years ago, we’d give them a handbook,” says Sayles. “Now we chunk it out and give them smaller, bite-size pieces of information as they go through the process. We’re trying to streamline materials to make it easier to read and make sure that we get [students] the right info when they need it.”

Jorgenson also notes that demand for earlier information isn’t confined to students—parents are looking for it as well. “We’re trying to offer more information and communication,” she says. “We’re seeing more demand for info on, ‘How does my son or daughter get started?’ to, ‘How does billing work?’ Now we’re getting those queries early on, when they start the process.”

Student Wellness and Mental Health

The increased support for students extends to wellness and mental health.

“There is earlier engagement around the topic of mental health and preparedness around that front,” says Pisano. “We are a lot more intentional surfacing that with the students, not just mental health but accommodations generally, knowing that some won’t say anything.”

While the support begins before departure, it extends during the student’s experience abroad. “It feels like there’s more need to provide support, both from the home campus and the institution they’re going to,” says Sayles. “Because of that higher level of need, they’re more often interacting with offices on the Smith College campus while studying abroad.” (Read more about the state of student mental health from the August 2023 issue of International Educator.)

“There is earlier engagement around the topic of mental health and preparedness around that front."—Angelo Pisano

The increased needs of students and the vulnerabilities that the pandemic highlighted caused many universities to more deeply evaluate their risk assessment and crisis response preparedness. “We’re thinking of all the ‘what ifs’ in a more robust fashion and doing more scenario and contingency planning,” says Simmons

“It’s opened this broader conversation on our campus about how this intersects with risk generally speaking,” says Pisano. “Where do we need to be formulating support resources for students and acquiring signatures for additional risk acknowledgments from students and families?”

Evaluating Partnerships—On and Off Campus

That has also led to a deeper look at the relationships that institutions have with external providers. Questions that were always important have now become a much higher priority in conversations with partners.

“Now, the question is, ‘What are your health and safety plans?’” says Sayles. “‘What kind of emergency procedures do you have in place?’ For providers with multiple locations, what would they do for students to continue their semester if they have to move quickly from one location?”

Relationship cultivation is key. The University of Denver undertook a portfolio review of all its programs in the summer of 2022, in part because of staffing issues but also to have more robust relationships with its partners rather than a vast array of program options. “We are definitely trying to have deeper relationships with our partners,” says Jorgenson.

“We now have a better sense of the spectrum of our provider and their capabilities in this area."—Ellen Sayles

“Now we are more focused on bringing in academic departments in identifying a partnership and doing more with those partners,” she says. “How can we work together as a team rather than we’re just sending students to you?”

As a result of this reevaluation, the relationship between partners and institutions is often tighter. “We now have a better sense of the spectrum of our provider and their capabilities in this area,” says Sayles. “We just know them better.”

Out of the Woods?

How these changes will play out in the long term is still to be seen. Still, says Simmons, just getting back to normal—even the new normal—is a relief.

“For a while, you felt you were in the woods and trying to find your way through,” she says. “Now that we’re coming back to the familiar and resuming what we have a commitment to do, we’re not going to take anything for granted again.”  •