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This email was sent to all IU faculty.
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IU-Sponsored Student Travel Abroad: Update and Approval Process
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Dear Colleagues,
Providing a rich array of education abroad opportunities, including study, internship, research, and service learning abroad, is one of the central pillars of our commitment to integrate international and intercultural perspectives into the IU curriculum. Such high-impact programs advance IU’s academic mission, align with IU 2030 goals, and support the success of our students academically, personally, cross-culturally, and professionally.
The
Open Doors 2024 Report provides a comprehensive picture of education abroad activity on a national level. Indiana University ranks highly among our peers. IU Bloomington is fifth in the country overall, with a total of 2,498 undergraduate students having gone abroad, and ranks third for semester-length study abroad. Additionally, we can report that in 2023-24 4,666 students system-wide went abroad.
I’d like to personally thank all the faculty members, staff, and administrators who develop, promote, teach, and support these activities. If you are interested in beginning such activities, there may be funding to support your internationalization efforts.
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Program Approval Process
Anyone planning to take students abroad on previously approved IU programs needs to have those plans reviewed by IU Education Abroad, whose staff, in consultation with the Overseas Study Advisory Council, will assess the program’s plans related to safety and health. Please contact IU Education Abroad
at least six months prior to departure, and earlier for credit-bearing programs.
For anyone who is planning to engage IU students in study- or travel-abroad activities in the future, I am setting out below important information regarding the approval process, which is designed to maintain the integrity of IU’s education abroad programs. The most important thing to bear in mind is that
all activities involving IU students studying or traveling abroad with institutional assistance must be approved by IU Education Abroad.
This means that all Indiana University individuals involved with directly arranging activities that take place outside of the United States for IU graduate, undergraduate, or pre-college students must submit a proposal to the university-wide
Overseas Study Advisory Council (OSAC). Those arranging programs that were previously approved but were not implemented in the last five years will need to resubmit their program for OSAC review.
Examples of such activities include:
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exchange programs;
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courses with an overseas component designed by an IU faculty member, school, or campus;
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opportunities abroad for which IU directly facilitates local arrangements, including internships, research, conference attendance, and independent study;
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non-credit-bearing activities abroad arranged by an IU office, department, or organization that involve clubs, choruses, or teams engaging in volunteer work, sports activities, music ensembles, theater outings, etc.
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Please note that there is an abbreviated proposal process for non-credit student activities including conference attendance, field research, sports activities, or music performances organized or designed by IU faculty and staff. Moreover, if students are traveling alone, based on a faculty or staff recommendation or encouragement but without their direct involvement, no proposal is needed, even if the students have IU funding to support their travel. Consistent with long-standing university policy on
student international travel safety
, no IU funds may be used to support student travel to countries under U.S. State Department Level 4 “Do Not Travel” Advisories.
The Council’s approval procedure provides consistency in the process of granting credit (where relevant) and ensures that overseas activities adhere to IU’s high academic standards. It also helps to safeguard the health and safety of all IU participants. The process also serves to introduce best practices to all program organizers, including how to minimize risk.
The Overseas Study Advisory Council, chaired by Associate Vice President for Education Abroad Jennifer Engel, must approve all proposals before any recruiting, advertising, or scheduling for the proposed program begins.
Proposals are reviewed as they are received. Applicants are advised to submit their program proposals at least 12 months in advance of anticipated departure in order to allow sufficient time to complete all necessary arrangements both at IU and abroad.
Many thanks for your attention to these procedures, and, again, for your work in expanding these opportunities for our students.
Sincerely yours,
Hannah L. Buxbaum
Vice President for International Affairs
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Indiana University
107 S. Indiana Ave
Bloomington, IN 47405
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