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Focus June 2016 | Volume 2 | Issue 3

FORUM The

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What is the Importance of the Insurance Claims Data Report? A Look Behind the Scenes

In March of this year The Forum published a historically significant report, Insurance Claims Data and Mortality Rate for College Students Studying Abroad. The publication of this report was a watershed moment in the education abroad field. Many colleagues immediately rec-ognized this, and I received a number of email messages from people who enthusiastically not-ed its importance.

What was all the fuss about? Why all the excite-ment? There are several reasons that I think make the report one of the most significant publications ever in the field of education abroad.

What the Data Says First and foremost, the report caused excitement because of what the data tells us: that U.S. university students who study abroad are 2.18 times less likely to die than students on U.S. campuses. This information is a first for the field. Until now our understanding of the rare case of a student death abroad came from newspaper reports, which provided no context about how frequently deaths occur, and sometimes sensationalized the reporting of a death. Education abroad professionals had no data that they could cite that would provide a way to understand a student death abroad. The Forum’s report provides the data that advances our understanding.

Nature of the Data Another cause for excitement is due to the nature of the data itself, which is robust, representative, and has a high degree of validity. The report pre-sents an analysis of insurance claims for students studying abroad and represent approximately half the number of students who studied abroad

Brian Whalen, President & CEO, The Forum on Education Abroad

President’s Corner

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in calendar year 2014, making it one of the largest samples ever in a study about education abroad. The sample is also highly representative in terms of study abroad country destinations when compared to Open Doors data. Finally, because the data came directly from two objective, external sources, there is a high degree of confidence in its validity.

Analysis of the Data A key to the report was the analysis provided by two expert statisticians: Dr. Michael Johnson of Crafted Analytics, LLC and Professor Steven Erfle

of Dickinson College. They analyzed the data by using odds ratios to compare the relative rates of the rarely occurring events of student deaths. By calculating a confidence interval for the odds ratios, they were able to estimate that a stu-dent studying in the U.S. is 2.18 times more likely to die than a student study-ing abroad. Further, they could state at the 99% confidence level that a college student abroad has a lower chance of dying than a student in the U.S. A further sensitivity analysis on the data

concludes that even if the death toll of students abroad had been 5 rather than 4, then studying abroad is safer at the 99% level; if the death toll had been 6 rather than 4, then studying abroad is safer at the 95% level. Only if the death toll more than doubled to 9 would the reverse conclusion be obtained, and that conclusion would not be statistically significant. The death toll among students studying abroad would have to have tripled (from 4 to 12) before that conclusion would become statistically significant at the 95% level. Strategic Collaboration Another significant aspect of the report is that it involved close collabora-tion between The Forum and two of the major education abroad insur-ance providers: HTH Worldwide (HTH) and Cultural Insurance Services In-ternational (CISI). To my knowledge, this is the first time that the insur-

“U.S. university

students who study

abroad are 2.18 times

less likely to die than

students on U.S.

campuses.”

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ance industry has collaborated with a higher education association to pro-duce this type of report, and it perhaps can serve as a model for other such collaborations in other areas of higher education.

Using the Report to Advocate The report is a major advocacy tool unlike any the education abroad field has had before. Already the report has been useful as a resource that can increase the public’s awareness of education abroad. Legislators who have been considering the need for laws regarding study abroad health and safety now have an authoritative study that helps them to understand the relative risk of study abroad. The report is helping institutions, organiza-tions and education abroad professionals to make the case for education abroad by assuaging ungrounded fears about the “dangers of study abroad.” The Forum will continue to promote the report and encourage its members to use it to advance our common goal of increasing access to and participation in high quality education abroad. The Future One of the possible criticisms of the Insurance Claims Report is that it re-ports data from only one calendar year, 2014. Could it be that this was an atypical year during which there were fewer deaths of students studying abroad than in other years? To answer this question, The Forum asked HTH and CISI if they would be willing to collaborate on a follow-up study that looks at insurance claims data and student deaths abroad over multi-ple years. Both agreed to do so. We are now in the process of collecting and analyzing data from 2010 through 2015 (data from 2014 of course has already been collected and reported). We anticipate publishing the results of this analysis sometime within the next several months. The results will provide an even better understanding of the mortality rate for students studying abroad. Final Thought After the Insurance Report was published, I received an email from Kath-leen Sideli, Associate Vice President for Overseas Study at Indiana Univer-sity, founding board member of The Forum, and The Forum’s first presi-dent, in which she reflected on its importance. Her message provides a

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useful historical perspective that seems a fitting way to end this article.

Believe it or not, I remember like it hap-pened yesterday that when I was in the SECUSSA chair stream (1998-2001), I at-tended a meeting of the Interorganiza-tional Task Force on Safety and Responsi-bility. During the meeting they were dis-cussing the age-old issue about the press jumping on the rare study abroad death as if it were a common occurrence. I made the point that day that until we had solid objective evidence that there were fewer study abroad deaths than on-campus deaths (which we knew intuitively at the time, given how many campus deaths happen each year), we would never win the argu-ment. No one knew how to make that happen at the time.

It took some years before the field was able to find a way to make it hap-pen, but we now have the objective, authoritative data that provides a context to understand the rare occurrence of a student death abroad.

“We now have the

objective, authoritative

data that provides a

context to understand

the rare occurrence of

a student death

abroad.”

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How and when did you get your start in the field?

Bill: In 1973, after graduating from SUNY Binghamton, I went to Europe

with three friends on a whim. We flew Youth Fare

to Amsterdam, traveled around with a two month

StudentRail Pass, stayed in Youth Hostels and $5

hotels, did a bit of hitchhiking and grew up along

the way. It was the turning point of my life. I got

married and went to Europe the following year

with another couple. We traveled around and rent-

ed a house in Eastern France staying there until

the money ran out. The next year I got a job at

CIEE, which was then in NYC. I was a marketing manager in charge of the

International Student Identity Cards. I traveled abroad on our charter

flights, visited college study abroad offices and began to write our promo-

tional material. I then started my own marketing company before moving

to AIFS in 1985. I was hooked.

Kris: The day I landed in Mali, West Africa as a

Peace Corps volunteer was the first day of my life-

long commitment to international development and

education, though I didn’t know it at the time. It

took me 16 years to wend my way into actually

working in this field after working for non-profits

(Planned Parenthood, the GreenBelt Movement In-

ternational, National Priorities Project) and higher

education institutions (University of Michigan and

William Gertz, President and CEO, AIFS, & Kris Holloway, President, CISabroad

Perspectives on the profession

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Springfield College). I began at CISabroad in 2007, right around the same

time as I published a book about my Peace Corps experience. I started in

university relations, took on marketing in 2010, and was lucky enough to

be chosen to lead the organization this year.

What is the biggest shift you've seen in the field?

Kris: The biggest shift since I studied abroad in 1988 is diversification. I was a middle class white female who studied French and Baudelaire in Par-is, France for a semester. Today, though white females still make up the majority of participants, we see broadening participation. Innovative pro-gram models create wider access, and there is more recognition by higher education institutions that study abroad is valuable for almost all students and studies. And, there’s data to back it up: when we are at our best, we offer experiences that help students become more complex thinkers and more employable.1

Bill: I don't totally agree with Kris on the diversification issue. The needle

is moving ever so slowly. Institutions have plenty of money to build football

stadiums. How about more funding for study abroad?

The commercialization of education abroad has been a big change in my

lifetime. Maybe we were naive but it was such a small field then. There

were no CRM systems, no words like “ROI.” NAFSA was tiny (the first

NAFSA meeting I attended was held at Iowa State University and we slept

in the dorms) and had yet to identify the millions of dollars that could be

made by sponsorships, exhibit booths, etc. Institutions also didn’t realize

that there was a lot of money in study abroad so they built more centers

and added study abroad fees instead of hiring more staff or paying them

better.

1. http://www.iie.org/Blog/2015/September/How-Study-Abroad-Contributes-To-Career-Readiness-8-

Studies#.V1l3JtIrLct

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Another change is the dramatic shift to short term study abroad. It was

inevitable for economic and social reasons and that is why study abroad

has grown so dramatically.

Kris: Money, money, money, as ABBA sings. At the IIE Summit last year, it

was obvious that the verbal commitment is there, but it will be vital to

match $ to the mission.

What hasn't changed?

Bill: The field hasn’t changed all that

much. Students are still going to Europe

mostly (with the exception of China the

top five countries remain the same). De-

spite our best efforts, as I said, the stu-

dents still are mostly white, female and

middle class. Where are the working

class kids?

But the advisors are still optimistic about study abroad hoping to make a

difference in the lives of their students, which is fantastic.

Kris: Yes, I love the fact that those who work in this field remain so com-

mitted. There are very few jaded people. Study abroad folk have always

been open to exploring and understanding our common humanity. We em-

brace the desire to see the “other” in ourselves. We don’t discount differ-

ences, and refuse to resort to stereotypes from a simple lack of

knowledge. This spring, I spoke with a professor from Morocco who works

at a university in the southeast, asking her if she ran into prejudice. She

said “I have lived in the U.S. for twenty years now, and the quality that has

always impressed me in my students and colleagues is that you are willing

to have your minds changed.” How great is that to hear?

“Study abroad folk

have always been open

to exploring and

understanding our

common humanity.“

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Did you have a mentor and if so, who?

Kris: Dr. Sora Friedman at World Learning is a huge inspiration to me. She

leads by example, is beloved by her students, and is constantly learning

and growing. Jeff Palm, the founder of CISabroad, has shown me the im-

portance of never asking your staff to do what you yourself aren’t willing

to. His humility and hard work have affected how I manage. And lastly, Na-

talie Mello (and no, readers, The Forum, did not pay me to write this!). Na-

talie organized the first Fireside Dialogue around women in leadership and

I have been delighted to be a part of this growing movement in our field.

She leads with strength and clarity.

Bill: I have had a few mentors in my career. First John Bowman who was

the Executive Director of CIEE. He was a great man who walked the walk

and started CIEE in 1947. It was an amazing place to work. Then Jon

Booth of the University of Michigan and John Pearson of University of Ten-

nessee who taught me much about the field. Lily von Klemperer was an-

other influence. She was my neighbor in New York and I used to go to her

home on West 9th Street and drink sherry and talk about

“commercialization.” She was a tough woman and put me in my snotty 25-

-year-old place. Clay Hubbs, Editor of Transitions Abroad was another men-

tor, and a great writer who understood the field better than anyone. He

gave me a place for my student guide series and good career advice, too.

Kris: You got to drink sherry with Lily von Klemperer? I am so jealous….

What's the most important quality you look for in a staff member

at your organization?

Bill: Brainpower, hands down. I don’t care where you went to school or

what your grades were. I like people who can think on their feet and are

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street smart. I like a good sense of humor and good (my) taste in music.

Everything else can be learned.

Kris: I agree with Bill: a sense of humor is priceless. I also look for per-

sonal integrity. And then, I look for a match with our company values: fun,

passion, cultural awareness, teamwork, being helpful, willingness to accept

change, and a desire to grow. Oh, and good ideas. We have a dog-friendly

office, so lovin’ the canines is pretty important, too.

Bill: Too many people with allergies to allow dogs here. We have on-site

daycare partially subsidized for kids but, alas, nothing for dogs.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the field?

Kris: Our ability to be constantly connected and aware of worldwide news

and events is a blessing and a curse. We are safer, more responsive, and

aligned with best practice than ever before. But it also means there is al-

ways something to post about, a protocol to be updated, a plan to be

tweaked. The more we know means the potential for more fear. My young-

er son was abroad during the Paris attacks, and my older son during the

Brussels bombings. I experienced these events as an informed educator

and as a concerned parent. How do we incorporate best practices but also

let our participants be free to make mistakes and take chances? We grow

from challenge not comfort. How do we impress upon our students to wor-

ry less about terrorism and more about wearing a seat belt? When per-

ceived risks and real risks appear equally true, we must stay focused on

what matters and let the rest go. That is getting harder to do.

Bill: Being connected is great for emergencies. But if you are on Facebook

or Snapchat the whole time you are never really away, are you? This both-

ers me although you can’t stop the wave. I think it’s the same challenges

we have always faced--price of the programs, terrorism, worldwide eco-

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nomics. Everyone wants study abroad to grow--we don’t have a lack of

commitment.

Piece of advice for someone new to the field?

Bill: Don’t get cynical. Change as many lives as you can.

Kris: Yes! And, if you want something, ask for it. There are many opportu-

nities in this field, and many talented and warm-hearted people to help

you. There are more open doors then closed; just knock. If you do, you’ll

find a great community of people working hard to realize their own poten-

tial and make the world a kinder, smarter, and more peaceful place.

Bill: I agree.

Kris: Thanks, Bill. Great to have this conversation with you.

Lily Lopez-McGee, George Mason University

Education Abroad is Inaccessible and Our

Administrative Systems may be Part of the

Problem

The systems intended to support students trying to study abroad may be making it harder to send more diverse students abroad. If we as education abroad practitioners are serious about increasing access to and participa-tion in education abroad programming, it’s going to take more than a web-site redesign and photo contest to make it happen.

Developing an ecosystem that encourages a wide range of students to go

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abroad can be tough. Higher education is notorious for its silos and divi-sions.1 Physical and administrative barriers abound, and for those profes-sionals who try to work past the barriers, the time and effort they put in can be taxing. Still, crafting intentional policies and cultivating partnerships across campus are necessary to building systems that engage and support students at all points of their study abroad experience. And for those who engage in this work, the pay off is rewarding.

Asking people to discuss administrative processes, though, isn’t likely a strategy many leaders use to inspire their teams. When we talk about di-versity and inclusion in education abroad, we tend to gravitate toward quick and immediate solutions that might include updating photos, posting student testimonies, and crafting scholarship advertisements. When it comes to developing a comprehensive marketing strategy or changing how scholarships are administered, well, those might seem to be less exciting endeavors.

It should not come as a surprise, then, that education abroad professionals at U.S. institutions and provider organ-izations report that changing policies and processes to improve access to education abroad is not very im-portant. Results from the 2016 Forum on Education Abroad State of the Field survey found that only 30% of both U.S. institutions and providers reported this strategy as important. In contrast, these two groups ranked the need to diversify study abroad as high (more than 80% in each group ranked this as important). Research on access to higher education suggests that the two are intrinsically connected,2 and it

“Crafting intentional

policies and cultivating

partnerships across

campus are necessary to

building systems that

engage and support

students at all points of

their study abroad

experience.”

1. See “Horizontal and Vertical Structures: The Dynamics of Organization in Higher Education,” “How to Create a Problem-Solving Institution,” and “Blasting Academic Silos”

2. See “Diversity in Academe: Who Sets a College's Diversity Agenda? “ and “The Cost of Color-blind.”

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would be a mistake to ignore administrative and policy change as pragmatic approaches to making education abroad more accessible. Our policies and processes may be the very things perpetuating the barriers that keep more students from going abroad.

Scholars who have looked at college retention and persistence have found that, generally speaking, students from underrepresented populations find themselves having to negotiate the dominant culture of the institution or of-fice in order to succeed.3 Students’ underrepresented identity becomes

something they must negotiate and in many cases downplay in order to fit into the insti-tutional culture, which often reflects domi-nant culture (middle class and white).4 This negotiation of identity, a challenging experi-ence in and of itself, is complicated by the fact that college students are also in the pro-cess of learning to make complex decisions.5 As a result, college students may be making decisions using simplistic and often black-and-white logic. That’s why it becomes in-credibly important for the professionals help-

ing students during these decision-making processes to develop effective in-terventions that incorporate considerable contact and communication with students.

At this point, an example may be helpful to illustrate how these ideas apply to education abroad. The study abroad office at Anywhere U.S. University has a longstanding scholarship program to provide more funding to cover part of the tuition associated with education abroad. The application dead-line for all spring study abroad programs is October 1st and students have to submit their deposit to by November 1st in order to participate. The rub? They won't know whether or not they got the scholarship until November 15. Effectively, students who depend on that scholarship have a choice to

“Our policies and processes may be the

very things perpetuating the barriers that keep

more students from going abroad.”

3. Chambers et al. 2014.

4. Barajas & Pierce, 2001; Moore, 2012; Yosso, 2005.

5. Research by Baxter Magolda (1992), Kohlberg (1963), and Perry (1968) suggests students’ de-cisions made at this point in their lives may not be “complex, preponderantly rational, or subject to careful evaluation and consideration of alternatives” (Hermanowicz, 2006, p. 36).

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make: take a risk and make the deposit assuming they'll get the scholar-ship, or drop the idea of study abroad because they don't know if they'll be able to afford it. Based on the research, students likely only see going or not going as viable options, and may not reach out to discuss alternative options with anyone.6

The scenario is compounded by the fact that the office does not have pro-tocol in place to follow up with students who ultimately decide not to go abroad. The staff might reach out on a case-by-case basis, but without a formal feedback loop the student’s experience goes unreported. From the office’s standpoint, the student didn’t communicate what the issue was preventing her/him from going abroad. From the student’s standpoint, no one reached out to ask what happened and in her/his mind the deal was sealed. While the issue might seem easy enough to fix initially—change the timeline—the more complex resolution might involve developing a policy to solicit feedback about the application process (especially from those stu-dents who don’t end up going), tracking application and admissions pro-cess more closely to identify when students are leaving, and reassessing the these processes on a regular basis.

To be sure, there are pockets of successful initiatives getting diverse stu-dents to go abroad. You only have to go to the Diversity Abroad Network website to access a growing repository of case studies that highlight the good work institutions across the country are doing. Unfortunately, in dis-cussions about how to increase access, we too often point to the small groups of students who we would coin success stories in getting diverse students abroad. But simply looking to the success of an individual student doesn’t dismiss the role of the office/institution and the systems that con-tinue to keep the majority of other underrepresented students at the insti-tution from studying abroad.

If there is any merit to the media hype about the importance of gaining in-ternational credentials during university, then we have to look inward at our office structures, our applications, our on- and off-campus partner-ships, and other places in our administrative structures to see how we might be perpetuating systems of inaccessibility.

6. College students vary in the ability to seek help or see seeking help as an important component of decision-making. See Cramer, 2999 and Hermanowicz, 2006.

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Some systems are hard to change and some policies might require more energy and negotiation than others. The question is, with the policies and processes that won't take a lot of heavy lifting, why not? What if our ef-forts to be more intentional about our day-to-day administrative tasks made education abroad even a little more accessible to students of all backgrounds? Small changes, opportunities to pilot projects, and a willing-ness to test ideas may take us further than we have let ourselves imagine.

References

Barajas, H. L., & Pierce, J. L. (2001). The significance of race and gender in school success among Latinas and Latinos in college. Gender & Society, 15(6), 859–878. http://doi.org/10.1177/089124301015006005

Baxter Magolda, M. B. (1992). Knowing and reasoning in college: Gender-related patterns in stu-dents’ intellectual development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Chambers, T. V., Huggins, K. S., Locke, L. A., & Fowler, R. M. (2014). Between a “ROC” and a School Place: The Role of Racial Opportunity Cost in the Educational Experiences of Academi-cally Successful Students of Color. Educational Studies, 50(5), 464–497. http://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2014.943891

Cramer, K. M. (1999). Psychological antecedents to help-seeking behavior: A reanalysis using path modeling structures. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 46(3), 381-387. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.46.3.381

Hermanowicz, J. C. (2006). Reasons and reasoning for leaving college among the academic elite: Case study findings and implications. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 8(1), 21–38. http://doi.org/10.2190/711H-UY47-CED1-8M47

Keeling, R. P., Underhile, R., & Wall, A. F. (2007). Horizontal and vertical structures: The dynamics of organization in higher education. Liberal Education 93(4). Retrieved from https://www.aacu.org/publications-research/periodicals/horizontal-and-vertical-structures-dynamics-organization-higher

Kohlberg, L. (1963). Moral development and identification. In H. W. Stevenson (Ed.), Child psycholo-gy 62nd yearbook, national society for the study of education, part 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Kolowich, S. (2010, January 28). Blasting academic silos. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/18/silos

McMurtrie, B. (2016, May 15). How do you create a diversity agenda? It takes more than just a plan on paper. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/How-Do-You-Create-a-Diversity/236427?cid=cp38#sthash.a55OEVuZ.dpuf

Moore, W. L. (2012). Reflexivity, power, and systemic racism. Ethnic & Racial Studies, 35(4), 614–619. http://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2011.630097

Perry, W. G. Jr. (1968). Forms of ethical and intellectual development in the college years: A

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scheme. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Posselt, J. R. (2016, January 18). The cost of colorblind. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved from

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/01/18/how-so-called-colorblind-admissions-reviews-create-barriers-people-color-essay

Thorp, H. & Goldstein, B. (2010, August 29). How to create a problem-solving institution. The Chron-icle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/How-to-Create-a/124153/

Amelia J. Dietrich, Mellon/ACLS Public Fellow and Assistant Director for Digital

Resources, The Forum on Education Abroad, Assistant Editor of Frontiers

Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal

of Study Abroad, A Valuable Resource to

Add to Your Toolbox

Last year, The Forum assumed ownership and management of its long-time

strategic partner, Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad.

Known simply as Frontiers to many in the field, this journal is an online,

open-access academic journal that publishes research articles, essays, and

reviews on a wide range of topics in the field of education abroad. For over

20 years, articles appearing in Frontiers have undergone a rigorous peer

review by scholars and experienced education abroad practitioners. All of

these articles are available on the Frontiers website. Since joining the pan-

orama of resources that The Forum offers, Frontiers has maintained a bian-

nual publication cycle, with new volumes released in April and November

each year. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year,

and the current acceptance rate is 13%, ensuring high quality and reliabil-

ity of the published work.

This should not, however, be mistaken to mean that the journal is for

“academics” only. One need not have a research program of their own to

draw value from the articles published in Frontiers. Recent themes among

the submissions received highlight this fact:

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Multi-year and multi-program outcomes assessment studies can help you choose the best design for your programs, e.g.,

Spenader & Retka’s “The Role of Pedagogical Variables in Intercul-tural Development,”

Hall et al.’s “Jafari and Transformation;”

Instruments that measure intercultural learning, student motivation, and global perspectives can be adopted into your own assessment plan, e.g.,

Anderson & Lawton’s “The MSA: An Instrument for Measuring Moti-vation to Study Abroad,”

Shadowen, Chieffo, & Guerra’s “The Global Engagement Measure-ment Scale (GEMS);”

Learn how education abroad contributes to student employment out-comes and personal development, e.g.,

Kronholz & Osborn’s “The Impact of Study Abroad Experiences on Vocational Identity among College Students;”

Find out what works and what doesn’t for study abroad recruiting and campus internationalization efforts, e.g.,

Richart’s “Effects of an International Experience Requirement, Year in School, and Preferred Program Duration on Student Interest in Study Abroad;”

Support the health, safety and security of your students with guidance from tried and tested measures, e.g.,

Bathke & Kim’s “Keep Calm and Study Abroad.”

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Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of The Forum on Education Abroad.

The Forum encourages responses to the perspectives in this issue. Reflections, topic suggestions and other correspondence are welcomed, and all contributions will be considered for future publication.

Please send correspondence to: info@forumea.org

Want to get more involved?

Read the journal! Share it with faculty and graduate students on your cam-pus or with other professionals in your office.

Follow Frontiers on Twitter for the latest updates and highlights from the archives: @FrontiersSA.

Write a review of an education abroad publication.

Submit your own work for consideration.

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© The Forum on Education Abroad Dickinson College

P.O. Box 1773 Carlisle, PA 17013

info@forumea.org +1 717 245-1031