These pages are meant to help answer questions that you may have about study abroad -- if you have questions that are not answered here, or would like to make suggestions to these pages as a whole, I encourage you to send an email via the following link: abroad@villanova.edu.
Information Sessions
After an initial group informational session with the Office of Education Abroad, all student appointments are held on an individual basis. This means that students have met with members of this office one-on-one, regardless of their place in the application cycle. I know students are sometimes hesitant to share information with their parents, but this individual attention means all students have all relevant information from day one.
FERPA Laws
Just like the Offices of Student Life, Residence Life, and the Registrar, we are answerable to federal law, so there may be some information that we cannot share. In particular, FERPA and the Buckley Amendment are very clear about information that we can and cannot disseminate about students -- adults over the age of 18 with clear privacy rights. These laws are especially stringent in regards to questions of grades and credits. Any questions you have about these issues (grades received overseas, graduating on time, course equivalencies, etc.) must be addressed with your student.
Influencing Your Student
You are probably the most important influence in your student's decision to study abroad. In that sense, we want to work with you to not only encourage your student to spend a summer, semester, or year overseas, but also to find the program that best fits him/her personally, academically, and professionally. The opportunity to study overseas is an extension of, not a break from, the Villanova education experience, and we all want to make sure that the experience meets those standards.
Though the quote is often attributed to St. Augustine, it was the 18th century French author Fougeret de Monbron who wrote that "The world is a great book, of which they who never stir from home read only a page."
Thank you for helping us introduce your student to another page in that Great Book!