Safety and Travel
Emergency assistance
A dedicated collect-call phone number provides emergency assistance to any members of the MSU community who are abroad on university business or study abroad. You may call this number in an EMERGENCY. It will directly connect you with the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety (DPPS).
If your host country emergency services are not readily available and you feel that there is a threat to your personal safety, follow these procedures:
- Dial the international access code for the U.S.*
- Then dial (517) 353-3784 (call collect, if possible)
- Identify yourself as an MSU study abroad student and give the country where you are currently located
- State your name
- Tell the person what is wrong
- Tell the person how to contact you
- Respond to questions and listen carefully to any instructions
*To prepare in advance, learn the international access codes for calling to the U.S. from abroad at the Country Codes webpage. Write the numbers on the back of the card.
The above procedures, reproduced on a wallet-size card, are given to all students by the program leader(s) so that you can carry this card with you at all times while traveling on an MSU study abroad program. Be aware that the MSU Emergency Assistance number is not a toll-free number; however, it will accept collect calls from anywhere in the world. Therefore, you should know how to place collect calls from your host country.
OSA may choose, in consultation with the program leaders or on-site representatives, to inform emergency contacts about a potential emergency abroad without the student's permission, such as when the student:
- is unable to speak for him/herself
- has been missing for more than 24 hours
- is perceived to be a danger to him/herself or others, or when
- a significant health, safety, or security incident affecting the entire program has occurred abroad
*Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to read PDF documents.
