Ten Quick Tips for Working with Higher Education Institutions

Recent conversations in the field center on how education abroad providers and university education abroad offices can improve relations. Tony Ogden (University of Wyoming) published a document entitled Ten Quick Tips for Working with Education Abroad Provider Organizations. Kris Holloway, MPH, President, CISabroad and Rich Kurtzman, MA, Barcelona Study Abroad Experience (BSAE) have come together to create this companion piece.

Ten Quick Tips for Working with Higher Education Institutions outlines ways education abroad organizations and university offices can build relationships.

Tip No. 1 – Let’s call ourselves education abroad organizations, not simply providers.

The term “third-party provider” has been a long-standing term used to refer to education abroad provider organizations. It implies a transactional relationship, with all goods and services flowing in one direction. That’s not true. Our institutional partners inform what we do and how we do it, and vice versa. It’s about reciprocity. When the partnership is going well, the sum is greater than its parts.

Tip No. 2 – Align your strengths as an organization with the goals of your partner institutions.

Take the time to learn about each of your partner institutions and how best to help them meet their goals. Communicate your own organization’s mission, values and priorities. Be ready to answer their questions: How will your curricular offerings complement our existing portfolio? They should be ready to answer yours: What are your goals and how will you achieve them? What’s your process for helping students choose programs?

Tip No. 3 – Know the Forum Standards of Good Practice and use the language of higher education.

Build and sustain credibility through developing your own set of core values and business ethics, as well as grounding your work in the Standards of Good Practice and their associated Code of Ethics. Ask the universities the hard questions: What is their pre-screening process? How robust is their pre-departure programming? Do they have a Code of Conduct that reinforces expectations abroad?

Read the rest of the tips and watch the video to learn more.