International Travel Needs a Plan

 

After you have considered where you would like to travel and reviewed the SCU International Travel Policy, what should happen next? Planning travel can easily take six to twenty-four months, depending on the complexity of the activity and who will be traveling. Undergraduate and graduate student travel requires time to prepare students through pre-departure orientation, including allowing time for all travelers to obtain visas and immunizations that may be required.  Keep in mind that travelers who hold passports from outside the U.S. may require a longer timeline and/or special support to facilitate their travel. There are deadlines for submitting the University International Travel Proposal. Planning timelines may include conversations with others in the department, as well as overseas contacts. If there is an assumption that participants will fund the experience through scholarships or grants, the planning timeline needs to include sufficient time for these companion processes.

Where to start?

Identify the objectives and outcomes of travel to establish what participants will gain and how the program aligns with departmental and institutional missions. Why is your department managing this travel? Consider the types of activities that travel may include to contribute to objectives and outcomes. This is also the time to think about in-country partnerships and collaborations by exploring organizations you might work with that can enhance the program’s cultural relevance, logistical support, or share in emergency response responsibilities. Create a budget based on tentative activities and include components such as staff time, materials, and travel expenses and identify what components of the travel will be funded by the department and what will be funded directly by participants or other sources. 

Work with your department to determine who will be able to fulfill the SCU Program Coordinator Roles and Responsibilities. How will this person, who will oversee the planning process, serve as the primary contact for participants, manage logistics and travel arrangements, address health, safety, and cultural considerations, and coordinate with local contacts and stakeholders?

Planning for Student Participation

If you are planning travel for undergraduate or graduate students, you will need to manage advising students on the SCU required travel forms and also disseminate and collect these forms from students. This includes the University Waiver, Health Report, and Insurance Verification forms. It can take time for students to complete these forms, and students may have individual situations that require more extensive work to address related to the forms. Normally, a planning timeline for travel with students would have all forms submitted and resolved six weeks prior to the date of travel.

When to submit the International Travel Proposal?

Travel proposals can be submitted a year in advance, and are encouraged to submit as soon as details are known, but no later than the deadlines. If you have not planned travel for others before, some questions may seem unexpected. Keep in mind that some overseas locations may have complex health and safety conditions on the ground that may take time to consider how to mitigate. There is a downloadable proposal worksheet and we strongly encourage departments to review it as early as possible to inform planning from the outset. The Travel Policy Advisory Committee (TPAC) will review proposals from Program Coordinators and make recommendations to the Associate Provost for International Programs regarding the approval of university-sponsored international travel, in keeping with the University International Travel Policy. Proposals are approved in each review cycle.

Create Your Own Planning Timeline

Use the items below as a checklist and come up with your own timeline:

• Travel documents, e.g., Verification of university affiliation letters or other documents required for visas/entry
• Vaccination requirements and recommendations based on specific activities
• Detailed understanding of potential health and safety risks specific to the location(s), activities of travel, and to the travelers identity(ies) and determining approaches for mitigating
• Basic understanding of cultural customs from the travel location, including language basics, appropriate greetings, appropriate/common dress, local customs and laws, etc. 
• Solidify itinerary
• Identify accommodations
• Identify modes of local transportation
• Solidify participant roster
• Develop internal departmental critical incident response plan
• Determine whether to connect with a local organization to support travel
• Consider your department’s plan if travel is cancelled or postponed, travel cancellation insurance, etc.
• Complete the SCU International Travel Proposal

Keep in mind that investigating elements of travel and then developing communication about those components to share with travelers are separate activities.

Have a question?

We are here to help - reach out to us at associateprovostglobal@scu.edu. 

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Key links and resources for university-sponsored international travel:

• Attend a presentation: Proposing Programs Abroad and Supporting International Travel. February 5, 2025 from 12-1PM, online. Register to receive the Zoom link.
• Understand Department/Program responsibilities for University-Sponsored International Travel: Program Coordinator Roles and Responsibilities 
• Preview the International Travel Proposal: SCU International Travel Proposal 
• Plan for International Travel Proposal deadlines: 2024-25 International Travel Proposal Deadlines.
• Are you a faculty or staff member traveling abroad individually for research or work?: Register Your Faculty/Staff Travel through the 1-Minute Travel Registry to ensure SCU travel insurance.

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Atlas is our university-sponsored global travel newsletter to offer guidance and resources for departments and programs in planning and supporting university-sponsored international travel.

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