Expert: Studying abroad ‘more dangerous’ than ever
Students traveling abroad face a range of dangers that can range from illness and petty robbery to the rare incidents like yesterday’s in France, where four Boston College students were attacked with acid at a train station.
“I think it’s more dangerous,” said Sheryl Hill, founder of Depart Smart, a non-profit that aims to teach people, including students abroad, how to make travel safer. Hill’s son, Tyler, died in Japan in 2007 at the age of 16 while on a youth ambassador program to the country.
“He died in a very sophisticated country that had some of the best health care in the world,” she said. “We need to take that seriously. This is what I hear all the time: ‘I trust my school. They’ll help me if something happens.’ That’s not always the case.”
The attack in Marseille’s main railway on the BC students — three of whom were studying in Paris and one in Denmark — shined a light on safety risks young students can face abroad. Authorities said the incident did not have any ties to terrorism, but the frequent, headline-grabbing attacks in major foreign destinations such as London, Paris and elsewhere in recent years have also heightened concerns, even if statistically being injured or killed in a terrorism attack remains rare.
Hill’s organization offers an online training course for a fee aimed at better preparing travelers. Hill said having travel insurance and knowing local emergency numbers is key, as is being aware of travel alerts released by the State Department. Even then, avoiding incidents like yesterday’s can sometimes be impossible.
“There’s really nothing any school can do that is going to ever protect any kid from things like what happened,” Hill said.
Other fatal incidents haven’t even involved attacks. In 2012, three Boston University students were killed and five others were injured when a van they were in rolled over on a New Zealand highway. One student pled guilty in a New Zealand court to careless driving.
The number of students studying abroad, meanwhile, has continually climbed, jumping to 313,400 during the 20142015 school year — a 3 percent spike over the year before, according to the non-profit Institute for International Education. About one-third of those studied in the United Kingdom, Spain or Italy.