Here are some general guidelines to assist faculty who are leading their own program abroad:

1. Early Preparations:
   • Attend Faculty Pre-Departure Seminars (offerings will be late fall and early spring)
   • Review Maroon Faculty Handbook (Available in Study Abroad)
   • Review Green Student Handbook (Available in Study Abroad)
   • Review Responsible Study Abroad: Health and Safety Guidelines
   • Begin/continue development of location contacts, program itinerary, and program costs.
   • Begin/continue recruiting students (class presentations, Battalion ads, bulk emails, etc.)
2. Program Application:
   • So that we can better advise students interested in your program, please notify Study Abroad when and where applications will be available, the eligibility requirements, and any other detailed information about your program.
   • You as the coordinator for your program will need to provide an application to interested students. As a general guideline, here is an example of the online application available through Study Abroad. You can also view the Study Abroad online application at http://studyabroad.tamu.edu/application.asp)
   • Please also provide your applicants a withdrawal policy. Here is the Study Abroad Withdrawal Policy as an example.
   • Please also have students sign the Terms of Participation forms, which include the following: Terms of Participation, FERPA Waiver, and Release Form   Word Format  |  rich text format
   • These signed documents should be turned in to you as the coordinator for the program.
3. Before Preparatory Class Begins:
   • Request from Study Abroad enough Green Student Handbooks, Financial Aid Summary, and Student Travels Magazine for all students on your program.
   • Request for New Account Form (used to set up a new program account) - Request from the Fiscal Department
   • Student Acceptance Procedure
4. Preparatory Class: This is a mandatory class held the semester prior to the Study Abroad Program. The class is sometimes a one (1) credit hour class for which students are registered and sometimes a non-credit mandatory meeting schedule. If the course is for credit, please be sure to notify the students and the program liaison well in advance to make the necessary preparation and notification. Preparatory classes are sometimes weekly, biweekly, or scheduled dates that are set in advance. The course typically addresses two themes:
   1. Academic Preparation – The academic preparation typically encompasses introductory information that prepares the student for the structure of the course during the program (ie., itinerary, class schedule, guest speakers), when the student can expect free time, and expectations of the students
   2. Cultural and Country-Specific Orientation – This pre-departure orientation prepares the student for their trip abroad. In general, this orientation includes completion of forms, information about the culture, the country of destination, entry requirements, safety and security information about the country, all possible risks associated with the trip, etc.
      Orientation Information:
      • New!!! Study Abroad is now providing General Orientation Sessions for all student who plan to study abroad. We encourage you to require your students to attend all relevant general sessions. These general sessions will be conducted by Study Abroad and will work in conjunction with program-specific orientation sessions that could be conducted by you as faculty and/or Study Abroad program liaisons, if requested. For a brief description and suggested non-academic orientation topics, please see our Pre-Departure Orientations Outline.
      • International students enrolled at Texas A&M must visit TAMU International Student Services Office before departure to learn how studying outside the U.S. will impact their U.S. immigration status.
      • Inoculation information (when applicable); please check the Beutel Health Center and also the Center for Disease Control.
      • Determine Visa Requirements – On Web at – http://travel.state.gov/foreignentryreqs.html
      • Provide each student a Green Student Handbook - (Please request copies from Study Abroad Program Office)
      • Procedure for Obtaining a Passport
      • Provide each student information on Scholarships & Financial Aid. Please stop by our office to pick up Financial Aid Summary Sheets.
      • In order for your students to enroll in the study abroad course, they must be flagged in the Student Information & Mangagement System (SIMS) by Study Abroad staff. Please provide Study Abroad with a list of students who you expect to go on your program so that they can be flagged eligible to take your course.
      • Registration – make certain all students have registered in their correct study abroad courses.
      Orientation Forms and Handouts:
      • Medical Consent Form   Word Format  |  Acrobat Format
      • Master Address and Phone List Permission Form (optional - make a list to give to the students so they may contact one another)    Word Format  |  Acrobat Format
      • ISIC Card Applications online at http://www.statravel.com/Statravel/cards/cards_ISIC.aspx?menuid=6001 or through STA (721 Texas Ave., College Station).
      • Student Handbook Form to be signed and returned to coordinator   Word Format  |  Acrobat Format
      • How to Avoid Culture Shock
      • Stages of Cultural Adjustment
      • Student Travels Magazine (Request from Study Abroad Program Office)
      • "Health Planning" from Beutel Health Center
      • What to Pack
      • Honors Stipend Form (available from Study Abroad Program Office) - For those Honors Program students who qualify; must be submitted to the Study Abroad Program Office 6 weeks before last payment is due to the program.
      • HTH Worldwide insurance policy forms and insurance cards (available in Study Abroad)
      Health & Safety Information
      • Study Abroad Safety Information from the University of Southern California
      • Safety Information for Students Studying Abroad
      • How to Avoid Jetlag
      • Aids Information for Travelers
      • Tips for Safe Travel Abroad
      • Study Abroad Safety Information from Michigan State University
      • Information on Countries with Potential Travel Disruptions
      • Health Information for Texas A&M Students Studying Abroad
      • Health Check for Study, Work, and Travel Abroad
      • Tips for Traveling Abroad
      • Tips for Studying Abroad
      • "Your Trip Abroad" - guidelines to help you organize and take a pleasant, trouble-free trip
      • "Crisis Abroad -- What the State Department Does" - summarizes the work of the State Department during a crisis overseas
      • The Office of Overseas Citizens Services - offers information about various types of assistance provided by the Office of Overseas Citizens Services to American citizens
      • U.S. Consuls Help Americans Abroad - explains the emergency and non-emergency services that consular officers abroad provide to U.S. citizens
      • Medical Information for Americans Traveling Abroad
      • Association for Safe International Travel
5. Emergency Contact Information
   University procedure requires the Critical Incidence Response Team (CIRT) to collects emergency contact information on all students going away from campus on a university program. Study Abroad now collects and shares with CIRT all Texas A&M programs going abroad. If you use our online application, we will submit the student's information to our Emergency database. If you do not use our online application, please have each of your students complete the Emergency Contact Form.
6. Insurance
   • Insurance Enrollment Form   Word Format  |  Acrobat Format - All students and faculty not coordinated through Study Abroad need to complete the Insurance Enrollment Form.
   • Policy Information Packets (Please request copies from Study Abroad Program Office)
     The following provides instructions for completing the HTH Worldwide insurance template and a web link providing instructions for submitting your roster of students for international health insurance. Please follow these instructions for submitting your insurance roster:
     1. Download the Microsoft Excel template.
     2. Once this is open, you will provide the relevant information for each student. The orange column headings indicate those fields which are required by HTH Worldwide for processing. Please do not leave any of the orange fields blank!
     3. For more information on each of these columns, please click here. This describes in detail the column definitions.
     4. “Date of Birth” is very important to keep correct. They use this like we use Social Security numbers. Also, the “Coverage From” and “Coverage To” fields are extremely important. Please verify that these dates are correct. Please also remember that you will need to add one extra day at the end of the program because the coverage for the final date ends at 12:01 AM of that date, meaning that the date is only covered for one minute! For example, if your program dates are 5/30/03 through 6/28/03, then you will need to make the dates 5/30/03 through 6/29/03.
     5. Please put an identification of the program (ie., Germany Language, Western Europe, Marine Biology) in the “Student ID” field. This is used to identify the program that each student belongs to.
     6. All faculty and Students are input as PO (Participant Only) in the “Insured Status” field. Only when the faculty will be taking family will you place a different status in this field (ie., PS for Participant and Spouse or PF for Participant and Family, etc.). Please be aware that different daily rates will be charged. Do not place the family on the roster. Only the faculty member's name who will be taking the family, with the correct status, is needed on the roster. If additional family members are needing to be added, please provide me the information on the dependents so that this can be input online. Please contact me for exact costs for family members.
     7. Once the file is complete, save it and attach it to an email and return it to us. We will then upload it to the HTH Worldwide web site for their processing. Following this, they will send us the invoice, which we will forward to you.
     8. Once the roster(s) is filled out and sent to us in Study Abroad, we will issue the exact amount of insurance cards for you to type out and give to each of your students. Along with these cards, we will also provide you with the policy information. If you already have the above items, please let us know so that we don't send them again.
   
   The invoice for payment may or may not come before departure. Once you do receive the invoice, please pay directly to HTH Worldwide Insurance immediately! There will be no other notification for payment other than this invoice.
   If you have any questions, you can contact the Study Abroad Programs Office.
7. During The Program:
   • Faculty, Program, and Course Evaluations from Study Abroad Program Office
   • In case of an emergency while abroad, please consult our Emergency Page.