The following material was distributed at the early stages of the pandemic to support international offices. The information is no longer being continuously updated.
This webpage serves as a resource and space for consultation for international offices in institutions of higher education around the world, providing information and tools to help maintain contact and psychological support for international students during the current corona pandemic.
Over the next two weeks, material will continuously be updated on this site.
In addition, international offices are welcome to send questions with issues being dealt with in real-time and a team of experienced international officers, psychologists and therapists will offer feedback within 24 hours. Feedback will be posted here for the benefit of the international office community. To ask a question, an email should be sent to: william@colman.ac.il
This initiative is part of the WILLIAM project on Internationalization at Home. One of the central focuses of WILLIAM is creating a supportive environment for incoming international students. The information and expertise provided here is a joint endeavor between WILLIAM and the Community Stress Prevention Center (CSPC) in Israel. CSCP brings brings over 40 years of experience in Community Emergencies.
Resources
WILLIAM COVID19 COPING:
A practical guide to dealing with the psychological effects of Corona
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
This paper includes two parts. The first offers a conceptual framework of why this new and ever evolving situation confronts us with an immense fear of the unknown: The Continuity Model. The second part will try and use the 40 years of expertise of working in psycho trauma and community resilience to give some practical recommendations for active coping.
COVID19 coping exercises
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
This text offers some insights into understanding the fear and anxiety around Corona and some coping exercises, in the hopes of offering some tools to support those who may be feeling overwhelmed and in need of psycho-social support to help deal with the situation
WILLIAM COVID19 Fear and Anxiety PDF
Template of letter to parents of international students about the situation
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
This text is a template of a letter for international offices to send to parents of students that are still in host institution during the current Corona pandemic. The letter helps international offices be in touch with the parents and share how they are helping students cope with the situation until they return to their home country.
WILLIAM letter to parents template PDF
Frequently Asked Questions
International offices are often the primary resource for international students on their campus. At present, many questions may be asked of you as an international office that you do not know how to respond to. In order to help think of the most appropriate responses to questions related to students’ emotional state/fears, we have compiled a list of questions in the document attached that may resemble what students are asking of your international office. For each question, suggested answers are provided that can help international offices address students’ needs in the current situation.
If you have a question you would like help thinking of what the most appropriate response should be, send us an email at william@colman.ac.il and our team of international officers, psychologists and therapists will think with you of what the most appropriate response should be within 6 hours.
WILLIAM FAQ about current situation PDF
Additional Resources
Examples of corona guidelines from the international offices of our WILLIAM partners
Erasmus Student Network Statement on COVID-19
How other campuses around the world are managing international student support
Erasmus+ recommendations for international students
Information from the European Association for International Education (EAIE)
How higher education institutions can respond to COVID-19
Supporting students affected by coronavirus
Crafting better crisis management strategies
*As much as we believe in everyone’s ability to benefit from our website, both personally and as international offices offering students psycho-social support, if there is a situation in which symptoms persist or are aggravated, one must contact a healthcare provider for specific advice.