Colleges seeking guidance on running short-term overseas-study programs have a new resource: The Forum on Education Abroad is releasing today a set of standards of good practice for programs of eight weeks or less.

The document, to be posted in the form of a report on the group’s Web site, offers advice on academic policies, codes of conduct, and program assessment, among other aspects of study abroad.

The new guidance grows out of broader standard-setting work undertaken by the group, a membership association of American and overseas colleges and independent education-abroad providers. In an introduction, the report’s authors say they saw the need for more-specific standards as short-term programs grow in popularity.

The success of such programs often depends on the expertise of the faculty members who typically lead them. But risk can be lessened, experts say, through proper training and clear institutional policies governing such trips. —Karin Fischer