Regulating study abroad would be complicated

By Mary Beth Marklein

"No federal agency has authority over study abroad programs, says Karin Hope, who was legislative director for Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., until he retired in December. After being contacted by constituents in Mound, Minn., whose son died in Japan. ..."

"Ramstad and other Minnesota legislators discussed the possibility of introducing legislation to create oversight, Hope says, but it's a complicated process. A speedier short-term measure would be to require providers of international student programs to disclose their safety records, she says."

"But that, too, could get unwieldy, suggests S. Daniel Carter, director of public policy for Security on Campus, a nonprofit based in King of Prussia, Pa. It was the force behind a 1990 federal law requiring colleges to report crimes on campus, including crimes on overseas campuses directly controlled by U.S. institutions."

"There's been talk of trying to expand the law to include more study abroad programs, but Security on Campus has never pushed it, Carter says, primarily because it would be logistically and financially difficult. Higher education groups would resist such efforts for many of the same reasons. ..."

Full article available at http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-05-28-study-abroad-regulatio...