Unfolding of COVID-19 Crisis in a Study-Abroad Program: Voices of Stakeholders Involved in the Evacuation

Abstract

This qualitative case study documented the unfolding of the COVID-19 crisis that impacted a study-abroad program in Paris between December 2019 and May 2020, culminating in the urgent evacuation of U.S.-affiliated students from France. Framed by Complex Dynamic Systems Theory, chaos theory, and research on study abroad and crisis management, rich data from extensive interviews conducted with nine undergraduate students in the program and the four educational staff members responsible for them were triangulated with external correspondence (e.g., official university emails), local media sources, and governmental documents (e.g., White House statements). This merging allowed reconstructing the context necessary to capture the singular voices of these stakeholders, as they experienced threat, uncertainty, and urgency, filtered by the use of a foreign language and varying intercultural skills during the different phases of the crisis. Recommendations for the management of crises abroad and the future of study abroad are discussed.