Update on Fall Programs: 16 July 2020
As of today, we can say that the Virtual Learning & Cultural Exchange Program, which may be taken as either an entire semester or a choice of credit options, will be our sole fall 2020 programming.
We look forward to having participants onsite again in both Jordan and Morocco for the spring 2021 semester. Given all of the things on our plate over the past 5 months, we are still a few days away from being able to open the spring 2021 applications, and will do so before the end of next week (July 20th-24th).
The government of Jordan has just released a list of countries where flights will resume and from which non-Jordanian citizens will be permitted to enter when the airport resumes more normative commercial operations in early August. As expected, the US is not on that list, and is not expected to join that list in the coming weeks. The list will be reviewed and updated regularly, and Jordan’s excellent COVID-19 response has entered a new phase of technology-based tracking and monitoring of foreign visitors.
We expect similar news from Morocco.
While we go entirely virtual for the time being, we once again wish you and yours continued health, safety, and peace. So let’s put a mask on it and keep the “I can” in American so that we can crush COVID-19… and humbly ask for our host countries to welcome us back.
Update on Summer and Fall Programs: 19 May 2020
Summer
Jordan and Morocco have employed comprehensive national strategies for tackling the public health challenges of the novel coronavirus.
In light of Jordan’s particularly aggressive measures, the country has begun to reopen, and Jordanians sheltering in place abroad since the border closures in March have begun to return home, subject to quarantine protocols. While indications are that the country may carefully begin to reopen borders to non-Jordanians after Eid al-Fitr, details regarding when and how that will be done are forthcoming.
Morocco, meanwhile, is not yet undergoing a similar reopening.
While we had hoped to run the second of our 4-week summer Intensive Arabic programs somewhere, the combination of ongoing uncertainty regarding the opening of borders and current quarantine measures render such short programs untenable. We appreciate the small crew of flexible students and university partners who have shown support regarding the possibilities of summer programming. We’re sorry we won’t see you this summer, but look forward to welcoming you in a future term, for which we are happy to offer you the discounted rate for returning students.
Fall
The situation in both Jordan and Morocco is promising, and we have no reason at present to assume that we cannot run programs onsite. Solid national strategies in our host countries for dealing with pandemic, our small size, and the implementation of hybrid programming enable us to operate with maximum flexibility. As a reminder, our temporary financial policies for academic year 2020-2021 enable students to withdraw from onsite programs up to one week prior to start without financial risk.
Our ability to run programs onsite in the fall depends, of course, upon having at least some small cohort of students. In that, we are dependent on decisions being made on university campuses—decisions that are entirely out of our hands but could not be more consequential for us and all of our colleagues among independent providers of study abroad programming. While we appreciate the great financial hardship that many institutions now face, we face it, too, and our institutional boats are much smaller. While we likewise appreciate the difficult nature of decisions about study abroad in the fall and the very real administrative challenges that drive them, any US institution currently planning an in-person semester for the fall has no reason related to public health to simultaneously cancel study abroad, particularly in countries with excellent national responses to COVID-19 and where visas are not complicated. Along with a more acute sense of the risks of disease, greater tolerance for uncertainty, more need for flexibility, less comfortable transit, and quarantines may be a fact of life from now on, and we are going to have to work together to help prepare students for it and support them through it, while also supporting opportunities available in virtual space.
We thank you for your ongoing support. As always, please don’t hesitate to be in touch with any questions.
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AMIDEAST Education Abroad is not yet in a position of having to cancel all summer 2020 programs due to our small size, specialization in the MENA regions, and the limited size and scope of our summer programs.
While the ability to run summer programs is ultimately dependent on a number of factors at home and abroad, on a number of host country policies, and on the various policies of US colleges and universities, the situation of AMIDEAST Education Abroad summer programs is currently as follows:
Action AMIDEAST: Social Innovation Abroad in Tunisia has been cancelled, as it is a community-based learning program rooted in worksite placements with host organizations. Under current conditions and those likely to prevail for the foreseeable future, it is impossible to complete the necessary preparations.
Given the situation of and response to COVID-19 in Egypt, coupled with the requirement of visa applications for US citizens, it is highly unlikely that Summer Intensive Arabic will be viable there.
Given the situation of and response to COVID-19 in Morocco and particularly in Jordan, it is possible that Summer Intensive Arabic will be viable there, given that Session I has a June start date and Session II has a July start date. Morocco does not currently require visas for US citizens and Jordan allows US citizens to purchase a visa upon arrival in country.
As a reminder, there is no financial risk to enroll or commit to summer and fall 2020 programs and application deadlines have been extended. With the above updates and extended application deadlines in mind, please read more about the temporary financial policies below. AMIDEAST Education Abroad policies and procedures all reflect, both inherently and explicitly, that participants bear sole responsibility for knowing, acknowledging, being in compliance with, and affirming their compliance with their home institutions’ policies regarding their participation in our programs.
We appreciate and respect our college and university partners’ various extraordinary policies governing travel during the coming months. Our policies and procedures continue to be applied equally to all applicants, enrollees, and participants. University policies regarding summer 2020 travel and program participation are varied and nuanced, and our policies and procedures remain appropriate, as they are in less fraught times, for dealing with the many differences found among them.
Please don’t hesitate to contact to contact our Director of Education Abroad with any further questions.
Temporary Changes to Refund Policies for Summer and Fall 2020 AMIDEAST Education Abroad and Customized/Faculty-Led Programs
In light of the fluid, global response to COVID-19, and to help participants and institutional partners make decisions about studying with us during the summer and fall 2020 terms, AMIDEAST Education Abroad temporarily amends its refund policies, found on pp. 7-9 of our Financial Policies document. Information on deferrals and cancellations is likewise found in this document.
Participants withdrawing 7 days or more prior to the start of AMIDEAST Education Abroad programs will be granted a full refund of all program fees without penalty, including the $500 confirmation fee. Deadlines for notification of withdrawal are thus as follows, by 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on the indicated date:
Summer Programs
Action AMIDEAST: Social Innovation Abroad (Tunisia): May 31, 2020
Egypt Intensive Arabic Sessions I & II: May 25, 2020
Egypt Intensive Arabic Session I only: May 25, 2020
Egypt Intensive Arabic Session II only: June 25, 2020
Jordan Intensive Arabic Sessions I & II: May 30, 2020
Jordan Intensive Arabic Session I only: May 30, 2020
Jordan Intensive Arabic Session II only: June 27, 2020
Morocco Intensive Arabic Sessions I & II: May 24, 2020
Morocco Intensive Arabic Session I only: May 24, 2020
Morocco Intensive Arabic Session II only: June 21, 2020
Fall Programs
All AY and Fall Programs (Egypt Area and Arabic Studies AY 20-21 and Fall 2020, Jordan Area and Arabic Studies AY 20-21 and Fall 2020, Morocco Area and Arabic Studies and Regional Studies in French AY 20-21 and Fall 2020): August 24, 2020
Notification of withdrawal from an AMIDEAST program must be submitted in writing. There is no notification of withdrawal form, rather participants must submit a statement of intent to withdraw and reason for withdrawal (email to EdAbroad@amideast.org is acceptable). Withdrawals and deferral requests are effective only upon the date written notification is received by staff at AMIDEAST Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Participants are responsible for notifying their home institution directly if they plan to withdraw or defer participation in an AMIDEAST program. Questions regarding home institution policies should be directed to the home institution and participants should be aware of home institution payment policies that differ from those of AMIDEAST.
Regarding customized and faculty-led programs scheduled to depart between today and August 31, 2020, AMIDEAST Education Abroad amends terms of signed agreements such that programs may be cancelled up to 7 days prior to their start date for a refund less unrecoverable costs for labor and expenses already charged on the program’s behalf. Please contact Education Abroad Program Manager Katie Johnson directly (kjohnson@amideast.org) if you are considering this option, and to confirm your cancellation deadline in advance.
