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OSEA News OSEA Statement on "Swine Flu"/Influenza or A/H1N1 May 4, 2009 To OSEA 2009 Participants, I want to update you on the issue of credits/transfer of credits with the following very important information. In short, there is only good news: Credits earned in a prohibited country BY a third party educational provider such as OSEA can be accepted AFTER-THE-FACT for transfer by Indiana University. Given that the US universities and colleges tend to develop the same kind of policies regarding legal issues of health and safety risks for student in international education, it is very likely that this position is the same for your institution. Indeed, Sarah Block has informed me that this is the case for American University. Nonetheless, to confirm this I spoke today with Kathleen Sideli, Associate Vice President for Overseas Study at Indiana University. She reiterated the down-side information of which we are already familiar: the university cannot provide students with funding or with direct IU credits from programs that have been cancelled by the university travel prohibition. At stake for the university is the issue of liability. They seek to clearly advocate non-participation by its students to countries where there is a health/safety risk so as to be unequivocally not liable for any thing that may transpire. Thus, as part of this position, the IU Overseas Study Office also will not allow any processing of pre-approval of credit transfer. Typically, this facilitates and makes more rapid the transfer of credits after the program has ended. I specifically asked Vice President Sideli if the IU policy/ban would categorically cause the rejection of the post-program request for the transfer of credits in this situation. Her reply was no. She pointed out a previous case where IU students had participated in an educational program in Israel during periods of US Govt. travel warnings due to political violence in Israel/Palestine. Upon return from the program, IU completed the transfer of all the credits for the students who requested it. This occurred over the course of two years. Given the liability issue of being required to not encourage travel, she of course could not provide any encouragement regarding the situation of the IU participants in OSEA. She did however forward me the following email: See the last paragraph of the Travel Warning policy Associate Vice President for Overseas Study Indiana University Franklin Hall 303 Bloomington, IN 47405-1223 www.indiana.edu/~overseas Affiliated and Non-IU Programs. Indiana University strongly discourages students from participating in affiliated and non-IU programs in countries under a State Department travel warning. IU will not provide support services that IU students going abroad normally receive. That is, IU will not register the students for the time they’re abroad nor will they authorize access to financial aid for the program. While we anticipate that students may leave IU to participate in a non-IU program and later seek transfer credit for their work, we reiterate that Indiana University discourages this course of action. A student's decision to do so is wholly voluntary and not the responsibility of Indiana University. Students who are traveling abroad independently of an organized program of study should adhere to IU's policy for individual travelers and access travel resources useful to independent travelers. In other words, if the credits are academically valid and accredited then the travel ban to Mexico will not in any way impinge on the transfer of credits. On this point, I reiterate what you have already know in the process of learning about OSEA: The OSEA courses are accredited through the University Autónoma de Yucatán, which is referred to as the UADY and called the Autonomous University of Yucatan in English. This university is a fully accredited institution and enjoys approximately 30 exchange programs and partnerships with universities throughout the USA. OSEA has never had a case where its credits were rejected for transfer. Given the present situation, I as director of OSA provide each and every student a guarantee of the credit transfer. The guarantee includes a refund of the OSEA tuition of $1890 if the credits are proven to be not accepted by your institution for reasons of the travel warning/restriction to Mexico. The student living and on-site program expenses, $1810, would not however be refundable. Given its assessment of the health and safety risks associated with travel to Yucatán and México, OSEA has determined to continue with its program on the originally scheduled dates and in the programmed location. This decision is inline with the decision of other institutions and researchers who have programs or projects in the Yucatán. The Institute for Study Abroad at Butler University has also determined that the risks in Yucatán do not warrant a cancellation of its program in the city of Merida, Yucatan, that is operated with the UADY. The University of Kentucky, for its part, has not issued a ban on Mexico Programs and does participate in the education abroad consortium of which the ISA-Butler is a leading provider. Nonetheless, given the travel warnings by the US, the CDC, and the WHO, we ask every participant to carefully consider their own health and the risks that participation in Yucatán may pose for them. In the event that you decide to continue with your participation in the program, OSEA will ask you to sign an additional release form that expresses acknowledgement of these warnings. This will be prepared and mailed to you in the course of the next few days. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns about any of the points discussed in this statement or about any other aspect of the OSEA summer program. Thank you for you patience in this very difficult and anxiety producing few weeks. While we are very much looking forward to working with each and every one of you, we are assured and hope that each of you chose what is best for you in your individual situation and context. Best wishes, Quetzil Castaneda, OSEA Director and Co-Founder
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