The U.S. Department of State recently unveiled a revamped system of travel advisories, a move that is prompting many colleges to revise their international travel risk assessment policies and that could result in shifts in some of the countries to which colleges commonly send students. Advocates for study abroad in Russia, for example, worry that the comparatively high risk rating for the country under the new system will result in a reduction in student travel there. At the same time, some institutions are loosening restrictions on student travel to other countries, such as Israel and Mexico, which were subject to State Department travel warnings under the old system but are now rated as being relatively less risky overall.
Many colleges used the State Department's old system of travel warnings and alerts as a main metric for determining where they’ll allow university-sanctioned student -- and, in some cases, faculty -- travel, and so changes to the State Department's methodology mean changes to many universities' policies.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/03/19/colleges-revise-their-travel-risk-policies-response-new-state-department-advisories