Health & Safety

The safety and wellbeing of your student is of the utmost important to the Global Engagement Office, and we monitor the world situation daily through resources like the U.S. State Department and the Overseas Security Advisory Council, and we convey necessary information and updates to students as a situation requires. This enables us to proactively provide students with access to information about health, safety, and security in each program location.

GEO also maintains a risk mitigation and crisis management plan that is reviewed, updated, and refined on a continuous basis. When a situation develops somewhere in the world that may impact our students, we are quick to reach out to determine if they have been impacted and, if so, what support they need from us, their program, the Embassy, and so on.

Most of our programs are facilitated by third-party providers, who also have extensive location-specific safety and security protocols for students on their programs. On-site staff play a vital role in apprising us of health, safety and security issues and impact, and are available to your student 24/7 in case of real emergencies.

GEO’s mandatory Pre-Departure Orientation stresses to students the following:

  • Their decisions impact your health safety and wellbeing. Make wise choices.
  • The need to practice situational awareness – being aware of one’s surroundings and identifying potential threats and dangerous situations.
  • If something should happen on their program, they should contact the local on-site staff first. This way they will be able to receive immediate help and attention.

Parents and family members are always welcome to call the Global Engagement Office with questions or concerns.