Journeys in Learning Beyond the Classroom

War and Illness Cloud Prospects for Study Abroad
By TAMAR LEWIN
 

ICHMOND, Ind. — Lindsay Enders, a biology major at Earlham College, is thoroughly excited about her plans to study in Kenya starting in August.

But her parents, Cheryl and Gary Enders, have never been thrilled about her going to live in a distant nation with a substantial Muslim population and a history of terrorism against Americans. With the war in Iraq, they are even more worried.

"I have to admit, I'm kind of hoping the program gets canceled," Mrs. Enders said. "My husband is still wishing we'd said no."

Over the last decade, the number of college students studying abroad has grown rapidly. According to the Institute of International Education, more than 154,000 students received college credit for study abroad in the school year that ended in 2001, twice as many as a decade earlier. Although most still study in Europe, more each year head for places like New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong, Thailand, Turkey and Kenya.

But this year, with the terror alerts, the war, and now the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, study abroad has become a far more jittery proposition. Just in two weeks, several colleges and universities have canceled trips to Asia, and a few have asked students in Hong Kong and mainland China to come home.

For the most part, parents rather than students are the ones who are seriously worried. Many say they tune in to the news in a new way, listening for updates on the war and bulletins on the spread of SARS. Some log on daily to Web sites to check government warnings about their children's destinations.

"SARS is a different kind of experience," said Geoffrey Gee, director of study abroad at the University of Pennsylvania, whose students in Hong Kong and mainland China are staying put. "You can deal with political situations by telling people to stay away from dangerous areas. But here there are so many unknowns that everyone's a little worried."

Programs in the Middle East have had months to prepare for war. The Council on International Educational Exchange suspended its spring-semester program in Jordan this year, and last fall, Earlham shelved its plans for a new program in Jordan.

But programs in Asia are scrambling to deal with SARS. Syracuse University canceled its Hong Kong program and brought students home. The University of Michigan and Indiana University Bloomington have asked students in China and Hong Kong to come home. The Semester at Sea has canceled its visits to Hong Kong and Vietnam.

Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., and the Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis have canceled China programs that were to start in June.

Many program directors have concluded that putting young people onto airplanes for travel back to the United States may be risky.

"I would be amazed if people would be put on airplanes to move around, because it seems like that's how the disease is spreading," said Allan Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education. "It's probably still just a little too soon to know what are the most effective things for people to be doing."

But administrators agree that the situation is unsettlingly fluid.

For parents, the timing of the SARS outbreak could hardly be worse. Oriana Mastro, who is heading to Beijing on June 17 to stay for a year, said her mother was growing more worried all the time.

"Every day she brings up the respiratory disease," said Ms. Mastro, a student at Stanford University who went home to Chicago for spring break. "She's one of these moms who's very paranoid."

True, said her mother, Claudia Skylar. "I am hysterical about this mystery illness," she said. "I'm worried she'll get sick. I'm worried she'll meet some weirdo in a bar."

It is too early to gauge how such worries will affect the numbers going abroad during the next academic year. While some schools and study-abroad groups say that their numbers may be slightly down, others are reporting an increased demand for overseas study.

At Earlham, where two-thirds of the students do some off-campus study before graduation, 94 have signed up for next fall, compared with 72 last fall. "I think that right now is a good time to go," Lindsay Enders said. "With the world situation, cross-cultural understanding is more important than ever."

Her parents, in Logansport, Ind., say they admire her commitment to international relations, but wish they could rein it in. "We told her at the beginning we wished she was going somewhere else, like Hawaii," Mrs. Enders said. "She said, and she wasn't being flippant, that we could say no now, but then she'd get that kind of experience by joining the Peace Corps when she got out of school, and then she'd be gone for two years, probably in a worse place."

Students tend to play down the risks, saying that trouble can arise anywhere and that they will not base their decisions on fear.

"They're all immortal at this age; they think they'll be fine no matter what," said Barbara Spencer, a foreign-study adviser at Beloit College in Wisconsin, where 115 students are going abroad next year, compared with 140 this year.

At the Institute for the International Education of Students, which administers programs for students from dozens of colleges, applications for programs this summer are down 10 percent, and down slightly for next year as well.

Even where the numbers do not show it, there is a new nervousness. Last month, Katie Learish, a student at Pennsylvania State University, signed up to spend the summer in Barcelona, through an institute program. But when the war began, she tried to find out how much money she would lose if she backed out. The institute, mindful of the growing worries, changed its policy, giving Ms. Learish and others until May 1 to cancel without losing their $500 deposits. "I'm nervous, but not to the point where it would stop me," Ms. Learish said.

Many students are wondering how they will be received overseas.

Peter Lewis-Lakin, a student at Kalamazoo College, who is going to Turkey in August, said he is wondering whether to pretend to be Canadian while he is there. "I don't think of Turkey as a dangerous place, but I am a little worried about being in the wrong place at the wrong time."